DFA Undersecretary for Administration J. Eduardo Malaya. Image from the DFA website
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed on Wednesday the nomination of Jose Eduardo Enciso Malaya III as the country’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Malaya’s nomination was recommended for CA approval by the Committee on Foreign Affairs earlier in the day.
Aside from his posting to The Hague, Malaya is also currently the DFA Undersecretary for Administration.
Meanwhile, the ad interim appointment of Ricarte Belisario Abejuella III as Foreign Service Officer, Class 1 was likewise approved by the CA during its plenary session.
In his sponsorship speech, committee chairperson Senator Panfilo Lacson, vouched for the qualifications of Malaya for the ambassador post.
“Your Committee, after deliberating on their qualifications and fitness during the public hearing, determined that they are fit and qualified to be in the posts where they are nominated and appointed, and therefore ruled to recommend to the plenary their appointments for the consent and approval of the body,” Lacson said, addressing Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Lacson noted that Malaya, who started his diplomatic career in 1985, “has gained his reputation as a professional, tactful, and highly competent foreign service officer.”
Malaya assumed significant posts in the DFA as assistant secretary and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson from September 2006 to February 2007 and from February 2009 to September 2011.
According to Lacson, Malaya also played key roles overseas, performing diplomatic missions in New York, San Francisco and Chicago in the United States; Brussels, Belgium; and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Two of the offices he headed received the DFA’s “Best Organization” award: the DFA Office of Legal Affairs in 2012, and the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 2013.
“Since April 2019, he has served as the Undersecretary for Administration of the DFA where he has been notably known for implementing innovations such as adequate staffing in consular-heavy or hardship embassies in the Middle East and Africa,” added Lacson.
Malaya likewise served as the chairperson of the DFA Epidemic Response Committee.