THE Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles welcomed a new head of post this week.
Seasoned diplomat Edgar Barrairo Badajos will assume the Consul General role, presiding over Southern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona, where 1.2 million Filipinos live.
“Los Angeles as a Foreign Service Post holds so much promise and potential for improving consular services, collaborating with one of the most dynamic and supportive overseas Filipino communities, boosting Philippine business, as well as promoting our culture and tourism,” Badajos said in a statement. “I am definitely eager to begin my work and meeting up with local movers and shakers, government officials and our kababayan community.
He was greeted at Los Angeles International Airport by consulate staff on Tuesday, April 6, coming from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he served at the Philippine Consulate General from February 2018 to April 2021.
The Bangued, Abra native joined the Philippine Foreign Service in January 1997 and has served in various capacities at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, including most recently as Director, Political-Security Division, Office of ASEAN Affairs (2015-2018).
Earlier, he was assigned to the Office of Legal Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs and the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs. His previous foreign assignments include the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto as Vice Consul (2000-2003), the Philippine Consulate General in New York as Vice Consul then Consul (2003-2007), and the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, as Minister and Consul General and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific or UNESCAP (2009-2015).
A University of the Philippines-educated lawyer by profession (UP College of Law, LLB 1991), the Consul General wrote a “Philippine Passport Guidebook” in 1998 together with a fellow Filipino Foreign Service Officer.
