Press Release No. 206-03
30 April 2003
ORDER OF SIKATUNA CONFERED ON DFA UNDERSECRETARY LAURO L. BAJA JR.

President Arroyo conferred on DFA Undersecretary Lauro L. Baja Jr. the Order of Sikatuna, rank of Datu, for having dedicated most of his life to public service and his stature as a diplomat' diplomat. Undersecretary Baja was commended for his outstanding achievements in international relations and foreign policy formulation, specifically in enhancing national security and territorial integrity of the country.

Undersecretary Baja exuded exemplary competence and dedication as Senior Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs for Policy in various international fora, especially in ASEAN, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN + 3 process, Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the Forum for East Asia and Latin American Cooperation (FEALAC).

It is also largely to his credit that landmark agreements such as The Joint Statement on East Asian Cooperation which established the ASEAN + 3 process, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, the Agreement on Information Exchange and Establishment of Communications Procedure to Combat Terrorism, the ASEAN Declaration Against Terrorism, the Framework Agreements with China and Vietnam on Cooperation for the 21st Century, were concluded.

Undersecretary Baja graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines. He also took up Foreign Service at Oxford University .He joined the Department in 1962 as a legal officer in the Office of Legal Affairs. In his forty years with the foreign service, Undersecretary Baja was posted to London as Third Secretary (his first posting), New York as First Secretary then as Career Minister at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations. He was Philippine Ambassador to Brazil and Italy.  

Undersecretary Baja has also been a recipient of other awards and decorations such as the Gawad Mabini Award, the Ufficiale nell Ordine “Al Merito Republica Italiana (Rome), the Ordem de Gran Cruz de Rio Branco , the Carlos Gomes Gold Medal (Sao Paolo) and as Outstanding Ambassador of the Year (Brasilia). His insightful legal expertise has earned him great admiration, in diplomatic circles and among his colleagues at the DFA.

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