US has new top envoy in PH

Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava. Courtesy of the US Embassy in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — The United States Embassy in the Philippines on Friday welcomed its new Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim (CDA a.i.), Heather Variava, who committed to “strengthening the broad and deep relationships” between Washington and Manila.

In a statement, the embassy said Variava would be serving in Manila for three years. She is replacing former Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) John Law.

A CDA is an embassy’s official representative in the absence of an ambassador, the embassy noted.

“It is a privilege and an honor to assume charge of our large and busy Mission in the Philippines. I look forward to strengthening the broad and deep relationships we have here,” Variava said.

“While we are not yet free of the pandemic, I am committed to partnering with the government and people of the Philippines to face challenges together,” she added.

Variava has been a member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1996. She previously served in the U.S. embassy and consulates in Indonesia as the CDA and DCM.

Before her post at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, she was the U.S. Consul General in Surabaya from 2015 to 2018.

She also worked as the director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

She has worked in Mumbai, India; Port Louis, Mauritius; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.