MARIA THERESA S.M. LAZARO

Consul General Lazaro is a career diplomat with more than twenty years of public service that included assignments in London (UK) and Bern (Switzerland). In addition to her extensive diplomatic experience in Europe, she was the Executive Director of the Office of Consular Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila immediately prior to taking the helm of the newly-reopened career Consulate. She took her Doctoral studies in Philippine Studies, and obtained her Master and Bachelor's degrees in International Relations and History, respectively, from the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

The Consulate General has consular jurisdiction over Catalonia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Valencian Community and the Principality of Andorra, serving an estimated 25,000 Filipinos, along with a significant number of Spanish and Andorran citizens with Filipino heritage. The Philippines is the sole Southeast Asian country with a career Consulate in Barcelona, highlighting the historical and people-to-people linkages between the Philippines and Spain.

Consul General Lazaro arrived in Barcelona on 27 March 2021.