Ambassador Rosario Gonzalez Manalo earned her Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and Bachelor of Science in Jurisprudence degrees, a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines and a Master of Arts in International Studies and Diplomacy from Long Island University in New York. She was the first woman to pass the Philippine Foreign Service Officers’ Examinations (FSO) in 1959.
Manalo was based in Manila for eighteen years before getting her first foreign assignment. She was the Philippine Permanent Delegate to the UNESCO from 1990 to 1994, and the European Economic Community from 1979 to 1987. She was Chairwoman of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women from 1983 to 1988. In 1976, she was named Deputy Secretary General of the ASEAN National Secretariat, and a Senior Official of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in 1996.
She was Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in charge of International Economic Relations from 1997 to 2001. She served as Philippine Ambassador to Sweden (with concurrent accreditation in Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), to France (with concurrent accreditation in Portugal and Monaco), to Belgium (with concurrent accreditation in Luxembourg.
Rosario González Manalo has enacted the roles of diplomat, political scientist, and educator in the Philippines, and globally. She has worked as Special Representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and has served as undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in charge of International Economic Relations from 1997 to 2001. She has served as Philippine ambassador to Sweden (with concurrent accreditation in Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), to France (with concurrent accreditation in Portugal), to Belgium (with concurrent accreditation in Luxembourg) and to the European Economic Community.
Ambassador Rosario Manalo is a Senior Foreign Service Adviser to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines. She chaired the High Level Task Force to draft the ASEAN Charter in 2007 and was also a member of the High Level Panel that drafted AICHR’s Terms of Reference. Ambassador Manalo has served as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Portugal, and Estonia. She lectures on international and Asian studies at the University of the Philippines, the National Defence College of the Philippines, and Ateneo de Manila University. She holds a Masters of Public Administration and a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy. This is her second term with AICHR.