President Emilio Aguinaldo (23 January 1899 – 23 March 1901)

-June 23, 1898 the creation of Department of Foreign Affairs, eleven days after the declaration of
Philippine Independence. Apolinario Mabini as the first Republic’s Secretary of DFA.
-Mabini established diplomatic relations with friendly countries.

President Manuel Roxas (28 May 1946 – 15 April 1948)

-July 4, 1946 the Commonwealth Act No. 732 was passed creating the Department of Foreign
Affairs official.
-September 16, 1946 the Executive No. 18 providing for the organization and operation of the
DFA and the Foreign Service. The task of DFA were to assist post-war rehabilitation, investment
promotion, and establish diplomatic relation with other countries.
President Jose P. Laurel (14 October 1943 – 17 August 1945)
-The creation of RP-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty
-The Laurel-Langley Agreement paving the way of a balance yet robust trade and military
relations with the United States.
-The Philippines increase participation in international arena.
-Philippines became a founding member of United Nations
-Drafters of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
-In 1953, Carlos P. Romulo’s elected as the first Asian President of the UN General Assembly.
President Elpidio Quirino (17 April 1948 – 30 December 1953)
-In June 1952, he pushed the passage of the Foreign Service Act of 1952, embodied in Republic
Act No. 708.
President Ramon Magsaysay (30 December 1953 – 17 March 1957)
-Assigned Raul S. Manglapus as the Undersecretary of the Foreign Affairs to instituted the
Foreign Service Officers’ Examination to professionalized the foreign Service Officer’s
Examinations to professionalized the foreign service and to upgrade the recruitment and
selection of new foreign service officers.

President Fernando Marcos (30 December 1965 – 25 February 1986)

-From 1965 to 1986, marked by policy innovations and difficulties brought by the excesses of
the martial law regime he redefined the foreign policy as the safeguarding of territorial integrity
and national dignity. He stressed “Asianness”.
-In 1987, the Philippines launched a new initiative to form regional association with other other
Southeast Asian countries called the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
-In 1975 and 1976, Marcos visited the China and the USSR to normalized economic and
diplomatic ties.
-Philippines also opened embassies in the eastern bloc countries, as well as a mission to the
European Common Market in Brussels.
-In the 1970’s, the DFA pursued the promotion of trade and investments and participated in the
meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement.
-In 1976, the Foreign Service Institute was created.

President Corazon Aquino (25 February 1986 – 30 June 1992)

-The DFA once again pursued development diplomacy in the active pursuit of opportunities
abroad in vital areas of trade, investment, finance, technology and aid. C
-In November 1989, the Philippines became one of the founding members of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC).
-In the 1990’s more diplomatic missions were established in the Middle East to improve existing
ties with Arab States and to respond to the growing needs of the Overseas Filipino workers in the
region.
-In 1991, the Philippine Senate vote against the extension of the RP-U.S Military Bases
Agreement putting a close to the decades-old presence of U.S Military at Subic Bay and Clark
Field.
-Also in 1991, she signed into law the new Foreign Service Act of 1991, (R.A. 7157) which
recognized the Department along geographic lines and strengthen the Foreign Service. It also
instituted a Career Minister Eligibility Examination as a requirement for promotion of the senior
FSO’s to the rank of career Ministers.
President Fidel Ramos (30 June 1992 – 30 June 1998)
-From July 1992 to June 1998 define the four core priorities of Philippine Foreign Policy
namely: the enhancement of national security, promotion of economic diplomacy, protection of
overseas Filipino workers and Filipino nationals abroad.
-He boosted the foreign trade, investments, and official development assistance to the Philippine
through his state visits and summit meetings.
-In 1996, the Philippines successfully hosted the APEC Leader’s Summit, which resulted in the
Manila Action Plan for APEC 1996.
-The creation of The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995 (R.A. 8042) with
Legal Assistance Fund and the Assistance-to-Nationals Fund.
-In 1992, the adoption of ASEAN upon Philippine initiative, of the Declaration on the Conduct
of the parties in the South China Sea aimed at confidence-building and avoidance of conflict
among claimant states
-In 1994, the establishment of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (BIMP)-East
growth area.
-In September 2, 1996 of the Mindanao Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government
and the Moro Liberation Font.
Joseph Estrada (30 June 1998 – 20 January 2001)
- In July 1998, the DFA hosted the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and undertook confidence-
building measures with China over the South China Sea issue.
- He strengthened bilateral ties with neighboring countries with visits to Vietnam, Thailand,
Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
- In 1999, The DFA played a major role in the forging of a Visiting Forces Agreement with the
United States.
- The country also sent a delegation of 108 observers to the Indonesian parliamentary elections,
and engaged in cooperative activities in the areas of security, defense, combating transnational
crimes, economy, culture, and the protection of OFWs and Filipinos abroad.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (20 January 2001 – 30 June 2010)
- In 2001, she pursued foreign policy based on nine realities, the dynamics of relations between
China, Japan and the United States determine the security situation and economic evolution of
East Asia.
-Philippine foreign policy decisions are, increasingly, being made in the context of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Europe will continue to play a significant role in promoting international prosperity and
stability.
-The International Islamic community remains crucial to the country's search for lasting and
permanent peace in Mindanao.
- Inter-regional organizations will become increasingly influential in the global context.
- The protection of the environment, natural resources and maritime territory.
- The drive for foreign markets and foreign direct investments will form a focal concern of
economic diplomacy efforts.
-International tourism will be a major driver of national growth.
-The DFA is also guided by the three fundamental pillars of Philippine foreign policy;
Preservation and enhancement of national security; Promotion and attainment of economic
security; promotion and attainment of economic security and protection of the rights and
promotion of the welfare and interest of Filipinos overseas.
President Benigno Aquino III (30 June 2010 – 30 June 2016)
-on Jun 24, 2016 he stated that “under his administration, in terms of foreign policy, the
Philippines was able to reclaim its distinguished stature in the community of nations.”
-the Department of Foreign Affairs has pursued a Philippine Foreign Policy that
is independent, principled, and based on the rule of law.  
-Strongly committed to protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of overseas Filipinos
everywhere.
-On February 24, 2011, we arrived in Tripoli, Libya to extricate some 400 overseas Filipinos out
of the war-torn city, into the Libyan-Tunisian border. 
-The DFA’s repatriation of over 24,000 Filipinos in these countries torn by civil strife,
devastated by natural and other disasters, and affected by pandemics.
-The DFA made the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea issue a foreign policy priority,
intensifying our advocacy for the primacy of the rule of law, including the UN Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
-The DFA championed arbitration as an open, friendly and transparent mechanism in resolving
the maritime dispute, negotiated with allies for the Philippine Defense Modernization Program,
and consulted with foreign counterparts on policy and operational issues.
-From 2011 to 2015, a total of 205 economic agreements were signed, covering labor, trade,
education, tourism and air services.
-On the 23rd May of 2015 signing of Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the
Republic of Indonesia Concerning Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone Boundary.
-On 18-19 November 2015, successful hosting of the 2015 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting
(AELM).
-In December 2015, the launch of the ASEAN Community; the PH-US Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and the Philippines’ arbitration case before the Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.  

President Rodrigo Duterte (30 June 2016 – Present)

-In 2016 a promise to promote an “independent” foreign policy.
-He announced in February the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The
decision was triggered after the US cancelled visas of several of Duterte’s political allies
involved in the war on drugs.
- He doubts he US commitment of military support under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty in the
event of an armed conflict with China in the South China Sea. 
-He ordered the Philippine military to scale down its joint activities with the US from the
previous combat drills directed at a hypothetical threat emanating from the South China Sea into
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and counter-terrorism exercises.
-He also blocked US warships from using Philippine bases during any freedom-of-navigation
operations and announced that the country would not participate in the regular naval exercises
with the US, Australia and other allies, to avoid antagonizing the Chinese.
-He subsequently secured US$24 billion in loans, credit and investments pledges from China to
fund infrastructure projects under his “Build, Build, Build” program. And in an attempt to win
priority access to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China.
-He even volunteered to be tested with a Russian vaccine.
- Duterte has maintained his non-confrontational stance on maritime issues, even with recent
Chinese military drills and illegal naming of features and districts in the contested waters
-on 19-20 March 2017, he successfully visited the nine other Member States of ASEAN;
Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, and Myanmar.
 - Engagement with countries in Northeast Asia, Middle East, and Russia is politically significant
as the Philippines seeks to expand and forge relations as a manifestation of an independent
foreign policy.
-at the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos on 6-8 September 2016
-In Cambodia, expressed its intent to seek opportunities for technology transfer of rice seeds
from the Philippines.
-In Thailand has sought Philippine cooperation in the fields of science and technology, and
agriculture, particularly swamp and dairy buffalo production.
-Duterte’s visits to China and Japan have resulted in cooperation on the improvement of the
Philippines’ lagging infrastructure by drawing pledges for mass transportation systems, railways,
dams, and ports. 
-Japan, for its part, has boosted support for maritime law enforcement by providing aircrafts,
boats, ships, and vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for search and rescue and counter-
terrorism operations. 
-Duterte’s visit to Russia explored means to deepen cooperation on defense, military, technical,
and investment cooperation between the Philippines and Russia.
-The visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar focused on labor relations given the presence of many
Filipino Overseas Workers in these countries.