As DFA Spokesperson Charles C. Jose leaves for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 15 to begin his tour of duty as the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia, career diplomat Robespierre Bolivar will take on the daunting task of simultaneously serving as the Acting DFA Spokesperson and the officer-in-charge of the Office of Undersecretary for Policy.

This isn’t something the dynamic Mr. Bolivar can’t handle. After all, around 20 years in the Philippine Foreign Service has prepared him for the challenges that lie ahead.

Mr. Bolivar’s current stint as the deputy to Undersecretary (now Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs) Enrique A. Manalo is his second assignment in the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy (OUP). The first time he was detailed to OUP was when he was a junior Foreign Service Officer in the 1990s together with Ambassador Charles Jose. Mr.Bolivar handles ASEAN and ASEAN Regional Forum-related matters, a portfolio that he handled when he was first assigned to OUP.

Handling this demanding portfolio has enabled Mr. Bolivar to ably lead Philippine delegations to several ASEAN Regional Forum meetings and to co-chair, on behalf of the Philippines, the ASEAN Regional Forum Inter-sessional Meeting on Maritime Security last February.

Prior to his return to Manila, Mr. Bolivar served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General at the Philippine Mission to the European Union and Philippine Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg, based in Brussels, Belgium where he worked primarily on Philippines-European Union bilateral issues, and was the Embassy’s primary liaison with the European Commission and the European External Action Service (the EU’s de facto Foreign Ministry). In Brussels, he worked actively with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to lift the EU ban on Philippine air carriers, and with the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to ensure the protection of the interests of Filipino seafarers.

Mr. Bolivar has served in various capacities at the Philippine Embassy in Russia and the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver, Canada.

At the Home Office, he worked at the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination, the Human Resources Management Office, and the Office of American Affairs.
He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines.

He is married to microbiologist, Maria Aurora Juanillo-Bolivar.