Marciano R. de Borja

MARCIANO R. DE BORJA is a career diplomat in the Philippine Foreign Service with the rank of Chief of Mission II (ambassador level). He is currently the Consul General of the Philippines in Guam* with jurisdiction over the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

He most recently served as Senior Special Assistant in the Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila. Previously he served as Minister at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York where he was in charge of Security Council Affairs and the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Affairs) of the UN General Assembly. He was also assigned to the Philippine Embassies in Japan, Chile, and Spain, as well as in the Department of Foreign Affairs where he served, among others, as Director for the United States Division.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History and European Languages cum laude from the University of the Philippines and his M.A. in History and Geography from the University of Navarra (Spain) as a Spanish Foreign Ministry scholar. He also studied International Politics at the University of Tokyo as a Japanese Government (Monbusho) scholar.

He has received numerous scholarships and awards for his outstanding achievements. In 2007 the Nueva Vizcaya State University conferred on him a Doctor of Humanities honoris causa degree for his excellent work in fostering closer relationship between the province of Nueva Vizcaya and the Basque Country in Spain. He was also declared an "Adopted Son of Nueva Vizcaya" in 2009.

In July 2013, President Benigno S. Aquino bestowed on him the Gawad Mabini (Order of Mabini) award in the category of Dakilang Kasugo (Rank of Commander) for his dedicated service and exemplary performance in the Philippine Foreign Service.

He is the author of three books: FSO IV: Starting a Career in the Philippine Foreign Service (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1999), an introduction to a career in the Foreign Service; Basques in the Philippines (Reno & Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press 2005), which deals with the Basque people's presence in the Philippines and their influence and contribution to Philippine nationhood; and The State Department Boys: Philippine Diplomacy and Its American Heritage (Washington, D.C.: New Academia Publishing, July 2014). This most recent work deals with the story of the 40 pioneer Filipino diplomats who were trained at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and at selected American Foreign Service posts before and after Philippine independence in July 1946. It is also an account of the American influence in the Philippine Foreign Service.

He is married to Esperanza Andaluz. They have three children: Aristotle, Angela, and Agatha.

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*Consul General Marciano R. de Borja is on extended medical leave. During his absence, Consul Mark Francis C. Hamoy has been named Acting Head of Post.