The Embassy of the Philippines in Madrid is the diplomatic mission of the

Republic of the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which ar ...

to the

Kingdom of Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Opened in 1951, it is located at the corner of Calle Eresma and Calle Guadalquivir in the ''barrio'' (neighborhood) of

El Viso El Viso is a village located in the province of Córdoba, Spain. According to the 2006 census ( INE), the village has a population of 2,849 inhabitants. It is next to Belalcázar, Hinojosa del Duque, Villaralto, Dos Torres and Santa Eufemia ...

, part of the district of Chamartín in northern

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, where it has been since 1998.

History

Relations between the Philippines and Spain were established in 1947, shortly after the Philippines obtained full independence from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Initially, relations between the two countries were conducted through a legation, with former Insular Assemblyman ''Don'
Manuel Escudero y Casals
being appointed as the mission's first minister plenipotentiary. The legation was upgraded to a full embassy on January 5, 1951 with President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

signing Executive Order No. 397, establishing the Philippines' first embassy in Europe. Establishing the embassy also reorganized the Philippines' diplomatic presence in continental Europe, with it also assuming jurisdiction over the legations in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. ''Don'' Manuel Morán, who previously was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was appointed by Quirino as the mission's first ambassador on March 20, 1951. In 1997, the Philippine government purchased a villa in El Viso, where other embassies were also located, to serve as the embassy's new chancery. Originally a two-story manor house, which was demolished to make way for the chancery, the fifty-year old property also included a stable and a large garden, on which the ambassadorial residence was later built. After a year of renovation work, the chancery was inaugurated by President

Fidel V. Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reached ...

in April 1998.

Staff and activities

The Philippine Embassy in Madrid is headed by Ambassador Philippe Lhuillier, who was first appointed to the position by President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

on October 11, 2016. Prior to his current post, Lhuillier, a businessman who served as chairman of the pawnshop chain Cebuana Lhuillier, headed the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon as ambassador to Portugal, and prior to that served 11 years at the Philippine Embassy in Rome as ambassador to Italy. His appointment was confirmed by the

Commission on Appointments The Commission on Appointments (, abbreviated as CA) is a constitutional body which confirms or rejects certain political appointments made by the President of the Philippines. The current commission was created by the 1987 Constitution. Whil ...

the following week on October 19, 2016, and he presented his credentials to King

Felipe VI Felipe VI (; Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. In accordance with the Spanish Constitution, as monarch, he is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed For ...

on June 15, 2017. Lhuillier would be subsequently reappointed by President

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

, Duterte's successor, on July 20, 2022, with his appointment being confirmed again by the CA on September 28, 2022. In addition to Lhuillier, the Embassy is also staffed with 27 officials and other staff. In addition to Moran and Lhuillier, other notable diplomats who have been deployed to the Embassy as Ambassadors to Spain include

León María Guerrero III Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

, who would serve between 1962 and 1965, and ''Don''

José Manuel Stilianopoulos José Manuel Stilianopoulos y Estela (sometimes known as Mike Stilianopoulos) (22 September 1930 – 4 November 2016) was a Philippine ambassador to Britain. He was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos as the seventh Ambassador to the United Kin ...

, who would serve between 1972 and 1977, and who later in life would permanently settle in Spain. Current

Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations The ambassador and permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations () is the head of the diplomatic mission of the government of the Philippines to the United Nations. List of permanent representatives See also * Filipinos in ...

Antonio Manuel Lagdameo Antonio Manuel "Tonet" Revilla Lagdameo (born June 13, 1942) is a Filipino businessman and diplomat currently serving as the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations since 2022. He is set to retire as Permanent Representa ...

also briefly served a year as ambassador from 2008 to 2009. Part of the embassy's philosophy is that Filipinos living outside Madrid should not need to go to the capital in order to receive consular services. To that end, the embassy itself also conducts consular missions in other parts of Spain at least once or twice a year, with missions traditionally being held in southern Spain,

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

in the Basque Country and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, and more recently on the islands of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

and

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

. In addition to the embassy, the Philippines maintains a network of honorary consulates throughout Spain which provide many of the same consular services in their respective areas, as well as assuming jurisdiction over the Consulate General in Barcelona, which reopened on March 2, 2020 after closing in 2012.

References

External links

Official website
{{Diplomatic missions in Spain

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Philippines–Spain relations