PH envoy to Myanmar is new consul general in LA

LOS ANGELES–Hellen Barber-Dela Vega, Philippine ambassador to Myanmar, will serve as the new consul general in Los Angeles effective next month, the Philippine Consulate here announced Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).

Dela Vega will replace Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon, whose term ends on Sept. 30. Aragon will return to Manila to serve at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“I am happy with Ambassador Dela Vega’s appointment as she becomes the second woman Consul General in Los Angeles since the Philippine Consulate was opened in 1947,” Aragon said.

Prior to her term as ambassador to Myanmar in 2009, Dela Vega was deputy chief of mission, minister and consul general at the Philippine embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. She also served as executive director at the DFA’s Office of Asia and Pacific Affairs.

Dela Vega served as consul at the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2007. She also held various posts in Philippine embassies in Tokyo, Madrid and Jakarta.

“Her former stint at the consulate and her familiarity with the community will serve her well during her tenure as consul general,” Aragon said.

Dela Vega graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas with a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies in 1982.  She obtained her master’s degree in International Public Policy from the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins in Washington, D.C. as a Freeman Fellow.

The jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles covers Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.