The Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed 26 Foreign Service officers (FSO) who form the latest batch of diplomats to complete the FSO-Cadetship Course.
The junior FSOs belong to Batch Liyab Laya and are the 27th batch of career diplomats in the DFA’s FSO Cadetship program.
Sec. Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. said that while the life of a diplomat is “not always as attractive as it seems,” a career in the Philippine Foreign Service “gives you a deeper sense of being a Filipino.”
Locsin likewise reminded the junior FSOs to be flexible, but not in matters of principle, to have the zest for continued learning, and to be a team player. “Persevere to be the best diplomats that this country has produced.”
The FSOs completed a six-month intensive Cadetship Course, which covered 17 modules specially designed and managed by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI).
FSI Officer-in-Charge Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat said that the Cadetship Course intends to provide these FSOs of diverse backgrounds with a shared foundation before serving in the DFA.
“This group’s cadetship course had innovations,” Balatbat added. It included a module on data analytics, counter-terrorism discussions with experts, 120 hours of Mandarin language lessons, among others.
Other modules included negotiations, treaties, diplomatic protocol, assistance-to-nationals, crisis management, consular affairs, national security, economic diplomacy, public diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy.
Teri Adolf Bautista, one of the junior FSOs, responded on behalf of the batch thanking the FSI and its staff for shepherding them through the six-month program. – Press release
April 17, 2024
