Her Excellency Bernadette Therese C. Fernandez

버나뎃 테레스 C. 페르난데즈

Chief of Mission Class I

Date of Arrival: 15 September 2025

Ambassador-designate Fernandez is a distinguished career diplomat with over three decades of expertise in multilateral diplomacy, regional affairs, and institutional leadership. She brings over three decades of expertise in multilateral diplomacy, regional affairs, and institutional leadership. Her previous foreign assignments include postings in Beijing, London, Toronto, and Milan. At the Department of Foreign Affairs, she held key positions in the Offices of United Nations and International Organizations, European Affairs, and Asian and Pacific Affairs. Most recently, Ambassador-designate Fernandez served as the Chief Coordinator in the Office of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2025.

In recognition of her exceptional and meritorious contributions to the foreign service, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. conferred upon her the Order of Sikatuna, with the rank of Grand Cross (Datu), Gold Distinction, on 4 September 2025. The Ambassador-designate was cited for her proven leadership and notable accomplishments in advancing Philippine foreign policy, including her service as Chief Coordinator under the Office of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. She was also recognized for her strong engagement with Filipino communities overseas and her critical role in repatriating over 300 nationals during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for enhancing consular services and facilitating assistance to distressed overseas Filipinos.

Ambassador-designate Fernandez takes special interest in training, mindfulness and well-being as tools for organizational development and institution building. She continues to monitor issues in global migration and development, especially on matters pertaining to Filipinos in the diáspora. Her exposure to consular work and the Filipino community in the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy has allowed her to provide unimpeded attention to the plight of the diaspora.

Ambassador-designate Fernandez holds a degree in Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University and pursued graduate coursework in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at De La Salle University. She is married to a fellow diplomat, Hon. Francisco Noel R. Fernandez, currently Director General of the Foreign Service Institute. They have two children.