DE LA SALLE-COLLEGE OF SAINT BENILDE

THE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE

The Birth Place of Diplomats
Patrick C. Agonias The paper will discuss about the Foreign Service Institute; its history, structure, function and programs. This paper3/1/2012 will be submitted to Ambassador Jose P. del Rosario Jr. in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Consular and Diplomatic Practices 1.

CONTENTS

PREFACE.................................................................3 ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS...........................................4 HISTORY..................................................................5 FUNCTIONS.............................................................7 STRUCTURE............................................................8 ILLUSTRATION OF THE STRUCTURE........................9 PROGRAMS AND SERVICES...................................10 REFERENCES.........................................................12
HISTORY

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PREFACE
What is the Foreign Service Institution (FSI)? How it came to be? What is its structure, function or purpose? The term paper would answer the following questions. It will provide to answer the historical background of the FSI and how it involved into the institution that it is today. Second it will also give the structure of the FSI and how it is governed and administered. Third, it will show the programs of the FSI that makes it a crucial agency especially to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). This term paper is done after an actual interview to FSI which was conducted on the 20th of February 2012 from 2:00 3:30. This is to be submitted to our Professor Ambassador Jose P. del Rosario Jr. It is required for his class under Consular and Diplomatic Practices 1 (CONDIP1) on the 1st of March 2012.

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ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the support of Rhodora M. Joaquin, Supervising Foreign Affairs Research Specialist of the Foreign Service Institute who gave her time to me and my group assigned to the FSI in coordinating and conducting an interview. Also the support of Ambassador Jose P. del Rosario Jr. our professor who helped in coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs specifically to the Office of Personnel and Administrative Services (OPAS). Im grateful to their support in helping me finish this term paper for CONDIP1.

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HISTORY
The Foreign Service Institute first began operating in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) soon after independence in 1946. Back then it was called the Institute of Foreign Service and its main activity was the training of personnel for the Foreign Service. However, it did not exist as a permanent organ of DFA. In the past, its graduates were exempted from taking the Foreign Service Officer (FSO) examinations. The Republic Act No. 708 or the Foreign Service law stated that: any person who had satisfactorily completed the training in the Institute of Foreign Service and has served continuously for at least one year in an advisory capacity or as a secretary to a Philippine delegation or mission abroad shall be certified as by the Board as eligible for appointment as a Foreign Service Officer. With the discontinuance of the institute, the DFA periodically organized and conducted in-service training courses on a need basis. Their primary objectives were to train newly recruited DFA personnel. On the other hand other government agencies can also study in the Institute. For example in 1966, the DFA was requested by the Department of Commerce and Industry to train their 25 newly recruited commercial attaches and analysts. Therefore a 6-week training program called the Basic Foreign Service Course was conducted. It was conducted under Consul General Pacifico A. Castro as Director. The course was expanded the following year into a 2-month course under Dr. Pura S. Castrence, then Assistant Secretary for Cultural Affairs. Again the following year 1968, it was further expanded to a 3month course under Ambassador Tomas C. Benitez, then Assistant Secretary for Political Affairs. Then Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo realized the importance of a continuing training program, he addressed the 1969 graduates I shall explore the possibility of converting the existing Foreign Service course of the Department into an Institute with invited specialists and experts to assists through lectures, orientations and discussions. Seven years later, on December 9, 1976, President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed into law Presidential Decree No. 10600, it is popularly known as the Charter of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). The first Director of the FSI was Ambassador Vincente I. Singian. He also served in concurrent capacity as Special Consultant of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Political Problems, until his retirement on January 23, 1979. During his tenure, the FSI organized and conducted four general orientation PED (Program for Executive Development) training programs of 8 weeks each that were held at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in Tagaytay City and attended by about 150 Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel at all levels from Chief of Mission, Counsellors, Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) and Foreign Service Staff Officers (FSSOs).

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As stipulated by law, operations of FSI during its initial three years have been contracted to the DAP and its training programs are handled mostly by the faculty members from the University of the Philippines (UP). In addition, what made the new FSI different from the past is that they now provide researches on concerns of the Philippines and publications of official documents of the Philippines such as trade agreements, treaties and the like.

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FUNCTIONS
The long term goal of the FSI is the professionalization of the Philippine Career Foreign Service. The institute seeks to strengthen and to enhance its effectiveness through multi pronged approach to the task of promoting professionalization in the Foreign Service. The FSI serves as a centre for the professional career education of the Foreign Service corps. Pursuant of this goal; the training component directs its efforts to the design, development and implementation of course programs oriented along the lines of career education. It also seeks to provide the target beneficiaries the opportunities for upgrading their existing skills and knowledge and to develop in them the attitudes, tools and methods for career planning and decision-making. It also seeks to be research base on issues and problems in foreign policy, diplomacy, international law, Foreign Service and the organization and management of foreign affairs. The research and information components extended its support to training and education programs through the development and publication of learning and educational materials and resources suited to the needs of learning. It seeks to generate on a continuing systemic basis the learning resources, information and research materials necessary to support the long range educational program of the Institute. Moreover, it also endeavours to meet the immediate needs of the DFA, in terms of information services and supportive research projects in foreign policy. It intends to function as an institutional consultant of the DFA on career management systems development as well as related organizational systems. The Institute studies and asses the existing career system in the Department in terms of the characteristics of its career population, competence standards developed from its career structure and performance criteria derived from its tasks structure. It defines and establishes opportunities offered by the career system through the manpower planning and the development of a career progression. Correspondingly, it designs and installs support systems for the maintenance, establishment and development of opportunities and competences such as performance appraisal system, career planning, guidance and counselling systems, etc. The functions are according to the Republic Act 1757 of 1991, which contained the expanded mandate of the FSI.

STRUCTURE
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The FSI since it as a separate entity from the DFA in itself has its structure. It has a five-person Board of the Foreign Service Institute, chaired by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. It is the institutes governing body. The remaining four is composed of the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, the President of the University of the Philippines, the President of the Development Academy of the Philippines, and the Director of the Foreign Service Institute. The institute is headed by the Director who is a senior career Chief-of-Mission. He is assisted by heads of the Carlos P. Romulo School of Diplomacy (CPRSD), the Centre for International Relations and Strategic Studies (CIRSS), and the Administrative and Financial Division (AFSD).

ILLUSTRATION OF THE STRUCTURE

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This is the structure of the FSI. The structure shall show the hierarchy within the Institution and emphasize its distinction from the DFA as a separate agency.

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Training and Education The Carlos P. Romulo of Diplomacy (CPRSD) was established with the FSI through the FSI resolution No. 30-2000 and was inaugurated on the 22nd of May 2000. CPRSD was created out of the original academic operations unit known as the Centre for Career Foreign Service Development (CCFSD). The School is envisioned to provide quality training and education to the career foreign service corps and other public officials in subjects related to their respective areas of responsibility.

Lectures, Symposia and Workshops To increase the awareness and understanding of international trends, the Institute also hosts the current issues forum, symposium on diplomacy ad occasional lecture series. These forums are envisioned to provide venue for practitioners of foreign affairs, policy-makers, members of the academe, think tanks and non-government representatives to discuss and asses crucial issues affecting the Philippines.

Scholarships The Institute administers Foreign Scholarships and Training Programs (FSTP) offered directly to DFA officers and regular employees, and coordinates with the Department of Education (DepEd) for teachers basic education; Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for degree courses; and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for non-degree courses sourced through Official Development Assistance (ODA). The FSI sits as a member in the Foreign Scholarship and Training Program (FSTP) Screening Committees of CHED and TESDA

Research By mandate of the Philippine Service Act of 1991, the FSI maintains a Centre for International Relations and Strategic Studies (CIRSS). It undertakes studies in support of the formulation, review and dissemination of the Philippine foreign policy. It also provides channels for interaction, cooperation and integration of the efforts of local and foreign experts from the government, private and academic sectors on foreign policy issues and their domestic implications.

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Publications To disseminate information on Philippine foreign policy and diplomacy, the FSI publishes books and other reading materials and distributes them to both Houses of Congress, national government agencies, embassies in Manila, Philippine Foreign Service posts, libraries of local universities, schools and colleges and other research institutions.

Library The Carlos P. Romulo Library caters to the DFA, other government and non-government institutions, and academe. It provides reference services for inquires and literature searching, as well as information services through its Library Update, and the publication of Special Subject Bibliographies. The library houses a collection of approximately 13,000 volumes of books and 40 titles of newspapers, journals and magazines, both domestic and foreign and 50 titles of non-print materials. It also serves as repository of annual or post reports of Philippine Foreign Service establishments and the originals of treaties and agreements entered into by the Philippine government. The collection of the library are as follows:

General Collection - books for general circulation on different subject areas such as
political science, social sciences, literature, and military and naval science. handbooks, manuals, and yearbooks.

Reference Collection - reference materials such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries, atlases,

Treaty Collection - a collection of certified true copies of treaties entered into by the Philippine government. Philippine Treaty Collection (restricted) - original copies of agreements entered into by the Philippine government. Maritime Collection - books on maritime matters and border and territorial disputes literature.

FSI Publications - a collection of publications of the FSI.

Legal Collection - a collection of books on international law and other law-related ASEAN Collection - a collection of ASEAN documents and other related ASEAN
publications.

Periodical Collection - professional journals, newsmagazines, and newspapers. Country Files - a collection of pamphlets, yearbooks, magazines, and other materials on
various countries, regions of the world, and international and regional organizations. 10 | P a g e

Gender and Development Collection - a collection of books on gender and gender issues and other related issues, including ILO publications.

Labour and Migration Collection - a collection of books on labour migration, refugees, Other collections/materials - annual and post reports of Philippine embassies, consulates,

missions, and regional consular offices (restricted collection), materials published by the APEC Secretariat, United Nations, and UNESCO and non-book materials.

REFERENCES
Foreign Service Institute. 1979 Yeabook. Manila, Philippines: Foreign Service Institute. Foreign Service Institute. (2012, February). Brochure: The Foreign Service Institute. Metro Manila, Philippines: Foreign Service Institute. Foreign Service Institute. (2011). Foreign Service Institute: Programs and Services. Retrieved Febuary 25, 2012, from Foreign Service Institution: http://www.fsi.gov.ph/index.php? option=com_content&view=category&id=15&Itemid=105 Marasigan, C., Diaz, S., & Joaquin, R. (2012, Febuary 20). Term Paper: The Foreign Service Institute. (P. Agonias, M. Alabado, B. Alvarez, A. Aquino, & J. Amores, Interviewers) Manila, Philippines. The Republic of the Philippines. (1991). Republic Act No. 7157. Manila: The Republic of the Philippines.

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