Roberto Romulo

Roberto "Bobby" Romulo (December 9, 1938 – January 23, 2022) was a Filipino diplomat. He was the Secretary of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1995.

Early life and education

Roberto Romulo was born on December 9, 1938, in Manila to Carlos P. Romulo and Virginia Llamas.

He attended the Georgetown University of the United States where he finished his primary, secondary and college education before returning to the Philippines to study at the Ateneo de Manila University's College of Law to obtain his law degree.

Career

Diplomatic career

Romulo under the administration of President Corazon Aquino served as Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Commission of the European Communities. As a diplomat, he received various honors from Belgium, Thailand, Spain, Chile, France and the Philippines.

He was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 1992 by President Fidel V. Ramos. As head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, he oversaw the case of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino migrant worker in Singapore, who was sentenced to death for murder which human rights groups argued were coerced to admit to committing crime. Contemplacion's execution led to a diplomatic crisis with the city-state and Romulo's resignation as secretary on April 30, 1995.

Death

Romulo died on January 23, 2022.

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Roberto Romulo, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.