Chicago Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim PHOTO from www.philippineschicago.org
LOS ANGELES, California—Chicago Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim has been appointed to replace outgoing Los Angeles Consul General Hellen Barbers De La Vega, the consulate here announced Monday.
De La Vega has been appointed executive director of the Office of American Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Her appointment comes as the Philippines and the United States are negotiating an enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a controversial proposal to allow increased rotational presence of American forces in the Philippines.
De la Vega’s reassignment also followed the reorganization at the DFA’s American desk, which included the replacement of Carlos King Sorreta, assistant secretary for American affairs. Gina Jamoralin, former head of the Office of American Affairs, assumed Sorreta’s post. De La Vega replaces Jamoralin.
Prior to his posting in Chicago, Herrera-Lim served as second secretary and consul at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC from 1991 to 1998. He had frequent interaction with the World Bank Group, Intelsat and the US State Department and Treasury. He also served as first secretary and consul, and later as minister and consul general, at the Philippine Embassy in London from 2000 to 2007.
De La Vega welcomed the appointment of Herrera-Lim to the Los Angeles post, saying that his strategic vision and leadership “will greatly benefit the Filipino American community… and the excellent ties between the US and the Philippines.”
The Los Angeles consulate’s jurisdiction covers Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. As of press time, the DFA had yet to announce the replacement of Herrera-Lim.
Herrera-Lim was previously based in the home office in Manila, serving as special assistant in the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and in the Office of the Undersecretary for Administration.
He was director of the US Division of the Office of American Affairs, and assistant director of the Treaties Division of the Office of Legal Affairs. He also worked in the Philippine Senate, with the Office of Sen. Edgardo Angara, and at the Regional Trial Court of Bulacan.
He was a member of the Philippine delegations to the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and treaty negotiations. He attended training, seminars and programs at the Foreign Service Institute in Manila, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Italy.
Herrera-Lim studied economics and law at the University of the Philippines. He and his wife, Fidelis Cariño, have two children, Leonardo Ignatius and Frances Leanne.
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