By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos
September 4, 2025, 11:02 am
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday conferred the Order of Sikatuna on outgoing Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Antonio Manuel Lagdameo and former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) chief coordinator Bernadette Therese Fernandez.
The conferment ceremony was held during a joint courtesy call by Lagdameo and Fernandez on Marcos at Malacañan Palace in Manila.
The Order of Sikatuna is the national order of diplomatic merit, conferred upon individuals who have rendered exceptional and meritorious service to the Republic of the Philippines.
Lagdameo, who expressed his desire to retire from government service in May, will be replaced by former DFA secretary Enrique Manalo, whose latest appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on Wednesday.
Lagdameo was appointed the country’s permanent representative to the UN in the United States in September 2022.
He held several diplomatic posts, serving as Philippine ambassador to London, the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland from July 2009 to September 2010 and from June 2016 to July 2022.
He also worked as the Philippine ambassador to Madrid, Spain and Andorra from August 2008 to July 2009.
He was also appointed ambassador to the US and Mexico with concurrent jurisdiction over Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama from January 2007 to 2008.
Fernandez, on the other hand, also served as the Philippines’ consul general in Milan, Italy and deputy consul general in Toronto, Canada.
She was designated as minister and consul general at the Philippine Embassy in London from 2006 to 2012, and second secretary and consul at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing from 1997 to 2003.
In Manila, she was the executive director and acting assistant of the Office of the UN and International Organizations between 2014 and 2016, director of the Office of European Affairs from 2013 to 2014, acting director and director at the Office of Personnel and Administrative Services from 2003 to 2006, and assistant director and acting director at the Office of Asia-Pacific Affairs in 1997. (PNA)
