The Department of Foreign Affairs

Standing along Roxas Boulevard and facing beautiful Manila Bay is the Department of Foreign Affairs, also commonly known as the DFA. As the Department that frames and executes the country's foreign policy,  the DFA is the bulwark of the Philippines, an archipelagic nation, when it comes to its relations with the international community and other foreign actors on the global stage.

In the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the most important provisions that pertain to Philippine foreign policy are these:

• Article II, Section 2: "The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice."
• Article II, Section 7: "The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other states the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest, and the right to self-determination."

Meanwhile, Republic Act No. 7157, otherwise known as the "Philippine Foreign Service Act of 1991", gives mandate to the Department of Foreign Affairs to implement the three (3) pillars of the Philippine Foreign Policy, as follows:

1. Preservation and enhancement of national security;
2. Promotion and attainment of economic security;
3. Protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare and interests of Filipinos overseas.

To carry out its mandate, at home and overseas, the DFA relies on the men and women of the Philippine Foreign Service. They are the country's representatives abroad and the principal instruments in articulating and defending the national interest, who are guided always by the DFA mission, vision and core values:

Adapted from the Department of Foreign Affairs website.

[https://dfa.gov.ph/about/phl-foreign-policy and https://dfa.gov.ph/about/mission-vision-core-values]