MANILA, Philippines – Foreign Undersecretary Enrique Manalo has been appointed the Philippines’ new ambassador to Germany.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed his appointment on August 7, according to appointment papers sent by Malacañang to media on Friday, August 10.

He is replacing Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek who retired last January. 

Manalo is the longtime DFA career official who served as acting foreign secretary  after the Commission on Appointment’s rejection of Perfecto Yasay Jr. The post was eventually given to then senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s runningmate in the 2016 national elections.

DFA Undersecretary Enrique Manalo, who had served as acting DFA chief before appointment of Alan Cayetano, is PH’s new ambassador to Germany. pic.twitter.com/fjYbd0MDnB

— Pia Ranada (@piaranada) August 10, 2018

Manalo, who joined the DFA in 1979, served as foreign undersecretary for policy under 3 presidents – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III, and Duterte.

A University of the Philippines economics graduate, he has at at least 12 long assignments abroad under his belt, plus nearly two dozen international meetings, most of which he chaired.

He has served as Philippine ambassador to the United Kingdom, Belgium, and head of the Philippine Mission to the European Union, among others.

Manalo hails from a family of ambassadors. 

His late father, Armando, was ambassador to Belgium and political adviser of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations. He was also a journalist.

His mother, Rosario, was the first female career diplomat of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Like her husband, she also once served as ambassador to Belgium, among other posts like Sweden and France. She was eventually elected rapporteur of a United Nations committee to stop discrimination against women. – With reports from Paterno Esmaquel II/Rappler.com