Rosario Manalo

Rosario Manalo (née González) (born October 2, 1935), is a Filipino career diplomat, political scientist, and educator in the Philippines. She is the 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. Moreover, 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.

Manalo was re-elected to serve on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) for another term covering the period 2021-2024 during elections at the UN General Assembly Hall in 2020.

Early life and education Manalo was born on October 2, 1935, in Manila, Philippines.

Manalo earned 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 Diliman 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 is the Philippine representative and one of only twelve elected experts to the New York-based United Nations Committee monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW from 1992 to 2002. Manalo was re-elected to serve on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women for another term covering the period 2021-2024 during elections at the UN General Assembly Hall in 2020.

Manalo chaired the High-Level Task Force which drafted the new ASEAN charter that carried the Philippine-initiative creating a human rights body.

At present, Manalo is the Special Representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

Academic work Manalo is the Dean of the HZB School of International Relations and Diplomacy in the Philippine Women's University. She is a lecturer in the European Studies Program in the Ateneo de Manila University.

Socio-civic work Manalo held leadership positions in various national and international civic and professional groups, such as—the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women from 1975 to 1986, Federación Internacional de Abogadas, the Women's Lawyers’ Circle of the Philippines, and ZONTA Philippines.

Personal life She was married to writer and fellow diplomat, Armando Manalo (d. 2008). Her son, Enrique Manalo, who also served as a diplomat, is the former ambassador of the Philippines to the United Kingdom (2011 – 2016) and Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations (2020 – 2022), and the current Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Marcos Jr. administration since July 1, 2022.