1 July 2019, Calgary – The Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary has a new Consul General in the person of career diplomat Zaldy B. Patron. Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. appointed Consul General Patron to replace former Consul General Gilberto Asuque who completed his tour of duty on 30 June 2019.

 

Prior to this new appointment, Consul General Patron was PCG’s Deputy Consul General. He holds the rank of Chief of Mission Class II.

 

“I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Secretary Locsin for this appointment and to my colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs for trusting in me. It will be a great responsibility but my team and I will do our best to continue to improve our delivery of consular services as we aim to achieve customer delight in performing this function.  The PCG will also pursue meaningful projects and activities that will promote Philippine culture, enhance economic cooperation between the Philippines and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and raise the profile of the Filipino community,” Consul General Patron said on his first day in office.

 

Prior to his posting in Calgary, he was the Executive Director of the DFA-Office of ASEAN Affairs from 2015 to 2018 where he got heavily involved in the Philippines’ Chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2017.  He helped manage the Philippines’ relations in ASEAN and he was part of the various Philippine delegations to the ASEAN Summits, ASEAN Ministerial Meetings and ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meetings. He also served as Senior Assistant to the Philippine Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

 

From November 2014 to June 2015, he was a Senior Special Assistant in the Office of the Director General for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) National Organizing Council under the Office of the President.

 

His other assignments in the DFA included being a Director for Institutional Relations and for Functional Cooperation in DFA-ASEAN from 2005 to 2008. During various years, he also served as Special Assistant in the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, Principal Assistant in the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs, Acting Director in the Office of Protocol, and Principal Assistant in the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination.

 

His previous foreign assignments were in the Philippine Consulate General in New York, U.S.A. from 2008 to 2014 as Consul then Deputy Consul General, in the Philippine Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil as Second Secretary and Consul from 2002 to 2005, and in the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia as Third Secretary and Vice Consul from 1999 to 2002.

 

He was a participant in the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program on “U.S. Foreign Policy in the ASEAN Framework” held in September 2007, and the Clingendael Institute’s “Course on Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation for ASEAN Countries and Secretariat” held in The Hague, Netherlands in November 2016.

 

In December 1999, the Directorate General for Immigration of the Republic of Indonesia gave a Plaque of Appreciation to then Vice Consul Patron for helping Indonesian immigration authorities arrest a human smuggling syndicate sending illegal foreign nationals to various countries, including the Philippines.

 

In August 2007, the Office of the President conferred him the Gawad Mabini Award (Rank of Dakilang Kasugo) for his performance as Head of the Substantive Committee for the Philippine hosting of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and Related Meetings in Manila.  In 2008, he was conferred the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Distinguished Alumni Award. In March 2013, the Pasig Catholic College, where he took his high school education, chose him as one of the first recipients of the PCC Centennial Outstanding Alumni Award.

 

He graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Economics and earned his Master in Business Administration degree from the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business.