# Embassy of the Philippines, Bogotá

The Embassy of the Philippines in Bogotá is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Republic of Colombia. Opened in 2024, it is currently located in the barrio (neighborhood) of La Porciúncula, part of the locality of Chapinero in northern Bogotá, across from the campus of the Gimnasio Moderno.

## History

Although the Philippines and Colombia established diplomatic relations in 1946, and Colombia opened a resident mission in Manila in 2017, relations between the two countries have historically been conducted through missions in other countries, with Colombia most recently being under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Brasília.
The Philippines began to consider opening a resident mission in Colombia in late 2018, shortly after the opening of the Colombian Embassy in Manila. On February 18, 2019, during the opening of the new chancery of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin, Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that an embassy in Colombia was one of the missions the DFA was planning to open within the next five years, a possibility that Colombian Ambassador to the Philippines Víctor Echiverri hinted to shortly afterward.
In 2023, the Colombian Embassy in Manila announced during a meeting with the Colombian community in the Philippines that a Philippine embassy was set to open the following year, and during the sixth bilateral consultation meeting between the two countries on August 14, 2024, the DFA confirmed that a team had already been sent to Bogotá to prepare for the mission's opening. At the meeting, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro remarked that the embassy's opening is a "clear signal of the Philippines’ commitment to enhance relations with Latin America", becoming the second Southeast Asian country after Indonesia to have a resident diplomatic mission in Colombia.
The advance team setting up the embassy announced that they had arrived in Bogotá on August 25, 2024, preparing to immediately begin offering consular services once the mission has completed all the required procedures for opening. It fully opened for consular services on October 7, 2024, with the first Filipino visitors being received a week later.

## Chancery

The chancery of the Philippine Embassy in Bogotá was initially located in a room of the NH Collection Bogotá, an NH Hotel Group-affiliated hotel attached to the World Trade Center Bogotá on Calle 100 and Carrera 8 in the northern end of El Chicó. It secured a temporary office space shortly thereafter at La Noventa, an office building located further south in the same neighborhood at the corner of Calle 90 and Carrera 11.
On October 27, 2024, the embassy began the process of looking for a permanent chancery, and on January 13, 2025 it announced that the chancery had relocated to the eighth floor of the Torre Los Nogales in La Porciúncula, closer to the center of Chapinero.

## Staff and activities

The Philippine Embassy in Bogotá is headed by Ambassador Adrian Bernie C. Candolada, who was appointed to the position by President Bongbong Marcos on June 25, 2024. Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Candolada, a career diplomat, served as Consul General at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore, where he was also the mission's second-in-command. His appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on August 7, 2024, and he presented his credentials to Colombian President Gustavo Petro on January 23, 2025.
Aside from Colombia, the embassy has been designated to exercise jurisdiction over Ecuador and Venezuela.