The Philippine envoy to the Republic of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. arrived to assume his Post
on 30 November 2003.
In his 27 years of service as a career diplomat, Ambassador Reyes has been Third, Second and First
Secretary, respectively, in the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York; Minister and Consul
General in the Philippine Embassies in Mexico, Chile and Myanmar; Director of the China Division of the
Asia-Pacific Affairs Office; Vice-Director of Ceremonials in the Office of Protocol; and Special Assistant for
Foreign Affairs Secretary Carlos P. Romulo.
Before his assignment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to South Africa, Mr. Reyes served
as Executive Director of the Office of Policy, Planning and Coordination; Special Assistant in the Office of
the Undersecretary for Special Projects; and Executive Director of the Center for Ocean and Maritime Affairs
(MOAC).
Ambassador Reyes graduated cum laude at the Ateneo de Manila University where he took up Bachelor of
Arts in Humanities degree. He took up his Masters of Arts in Communications and Government and Politics
at the University of the Philippines and St. John University, New York, respectively, and has post-graduate
degrees from academic institutions of Austria, France, and Chile as well as study grants from Korea and the
UN Department of Disarmament Affairs. Reyes was the first Filipino graduate of the Diplomatic Academy of
Vienna in 1977.
Aside from English and Filipino, he speaks, reads and writes Spanish, French, German as well as some
Russian, Burmese and Afrikaans. He has written and edited three books on Disarmament and Security; the
Philippine Revolution; and Husing Batute's• verse-novel "Gloria" (which received the National Book Award in
August 2004).
He is married to Maria Felisa Luarca-Reyes with whom he has one son, Paul-Philippe Reyes.

Meet the Ambassador in South Africa His Excellency, Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr
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