Bernardita Catalla

Bernardita Leonido Catalla (February 18, 1958 – April 2, 2020) was a Filipina career diplomat who was last appointed the Philippine ambassador to Lebanon. Prior to her posting in Lebanon, she was also assigned to Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Early life and education Catalla was born on February 18, 1958, in Makati, then a part of the Province of Rizal. She graduated in 1979 from University of the Philippines Los Baños with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication arts. From 1987 to 1993, she studied at the University of the Philippines Diliman for her master's degree in communication research and in 1991, she graduated with a Master of Arts degree in development studies from the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Career

Catalla first entered the Philippine Foreign Service in 1993. She was the principal assistant and then acting director of the ASEAN office from 1994 to 1995.

From 1996 to 2001, she was assigned at the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur as Vice Consul and then Consul.

She was consul of the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta from 2005 to 2011 and Director of the Office of Asia & Pacific Affairs at the Home Office from 2011 to 2014. During her stint in Hong Kong, she spearheaded the amendment of contracts of foreign domestic helpers to include a ban on dangerous window cleaning, which according to The Sun Hong Kong, was her biggest legacy to the Filipino community in the region.

After that, she was promoted to the Embassy in Beirut as Ambassador from 2017 up to her death in 2020. According to news reports, she treated him as her own son.

Death In April 2020, she died of COVID-19 in Beirut, Lebanon.

Posthumous honors 25px Order of Sikatuna (Rank of Datu, Gold Distinction) by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on behalf of President Rodrigo Duterte.