Dr. EMMANUEL R. FERNANDEZ is a Filipino career diplomat currently serving as Deputy Head of Mission and Consul General of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Executive Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs' Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office, and as Acting Assistant Secretary and Executive Director of the DFA's Office of Strategic Communications and Research. He had been posted abroad as Consul General and Deputy Chief of Mission 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. He also served as Director for Southern Europe at the Department of Foreign Affairs' Office of European Affairs.
Dr. Fernandez obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from San Pablo Seminary, and a bachelor of sacred theology (cum laude) from the Immaculate Conception School of Theology. He later finished an MA in communication at the Ateneo de Manila University, and a PhD in sociology at the University of the Philippines. He has attended seminars and programs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore), the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (Boston University), and the Foreign Service Institute; and has undergone online seminars and programs given by the Centre for International Law (National University of Singapore), the International Maritime Law Institute (Malta), and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS). He has published four books with the Ateneo de Manila University Press and the UST Publishing House: A Pathway to Diplomacy, A Sanctuary Without Borders, The God Who Lives Beyond the Temple Walls, and Leaving the Priesthood: A close reading of priestly departures. The last book won a National Book Award as well as a Gintong Aklat Award in 2002. He once served as Secretary of the Philippine Sociological Society.
He is married to Alice Kalaw-Fernandez -- a painter, chef, and former bank executive who used to serve as an Assistant Vice President of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.
