About Us
The Ambassador
H.E. Dr. Emmanuel R. Fernandez is a career diplomat of the Republic of the Philippines. He currently serves as the Philippine Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He is also the Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Islamabad (ACI) for the 2nd half of 2026.
Prior to his assignment to Pakistan, he was the Deputy Head of Mission and Consul General of the Philippine Embassy to Singapore. He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General of the Philippine Embassy to the Kingdom of Spain; First Secretary and Consul General of the Philippine Embassy to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; and Second Secretary and Consul of the Philippine Embassy to the Italian Republic.
In between his foreign postings, at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Executive Director of the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office; Acting Assistant Secretary and Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Communication and Research; and Director for Southern Europe at the Office of European Affairs.
He joined the Philippine foreign service in 2000, after garnering 2nd place in the 1998 Foreign Service Officer Examination.
In addition to his bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and theology, Ambassador Fernandez holds a master’s degree in communication from the Ateneo de Manila University, and a PhD in sociology from the University of the Philippines (Diliman), where he was a consistent college and university scholar.
He also completed executive programs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore), the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and the erstwhile Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (Boston University).
His published books include “A Pathway to Diplomacy” and three other books published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press and the UST Publishing House. He was a recipient of a National Book Award and a Gintong Aklat Award in 2002, and was conferred a Special Award in 2020 by the Department of Foreign Affairs for his exemplary achievements in the field of non-fiction writing. He recently co-edited a book on the trailblazing journeys of Filipino entrepreneurs in Singapore entitled “Making a Mark on the Little Red Dot.”
Ambassador Fernandez is married to Alicia Kalaw-Fernandez — a painter, writer, chef, and former bank executive who used to serve as an Assistant Vice President of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC).