What happens after you pass the Philippine FSO Exam?
Statistically speaking, most of you taking the Philippine FSO or Foreign Service Exam will fail. Yup, that’s the hard truth. My guesstimate is 1-3% of all takers pass the entire Continue Reading
How to become a Philippine Diplomat
The idea of becoming a diplomat conjures an image of a rarified job dealing with the upper echelons of society and guarding state secrets. This is true, to an extent. Continue Reading
Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats, New Delhi, India
n life as a diplomat, you sometimes stumble upon once-in-a-lifetime experiences – I certainly did when I participated in the 68th Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) in India this year.
Understanding the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs
Before I joined the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA over a decade ago, I hardly understood how the DFA worked. Geez… I didn’t even know the difference between an embassy and a consulate.
Your Awesome Guide to the Philippine Passport
There are approximately 17 million Philippine passports in circulation. Yup you read that right. There are 17 million Filipinos in possession those insanely beautiful, super high-tech maroon windows to the world emblazoned with a gold inlay of the Philippine nation emblem. Passports in circulation – I love that statistic.
What are the advantages of using a diplomatic passport (and official passports too)?
You probably have heard of diplomatic passports, carried by a seemingly special tribe of people called diplomats. Some might say that diplomatic passports allow you to travel the world with need for a visa and make you untouchable by the police.
The Apostille Convention, the Red Ribbon and Authentication (The Apostille Convention Explained)
The Philippines became the 117th member of the Apostille Convention and on the 14th of May 2019 saw the full effects of its implementation. This is an awesome development for Continue Reading
What’s the Difference Between an Embassy and a Consulate?
“What the heck is the difference between an embassy and a consulate?” that is probably the question that popped up in your mind that cause you to find this article. So Continue Reading
What to do if you’ve lost or damaged your Philippine COMELEC Voter’s ID Abroad
Update (March 2018: All issuances (including replacements) of COMELEC Voter’s IDs are on hold, as discussions on the National ID system are ongoing. Well, that would be a great development. Continue Reading
Why do diplomats have such boring blogs?
Foreign service officers or diplomats have the most boring blogs ever. There are in fact so few of them that within one week you can probably read all of the Continue Reading