APEC Senior Official, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and International Economic Relations

Department of Foreign Affairs

Ambassador Charles C. Jose is a career diplomat with a rich educational background and distinguished career in the Philippine Foreign Service. Ambassador Jose obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1982, and his Master of Arts degree in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore in 2002. His long career in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is marked by various significant assignments. Currently, he serves as Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and International Economic Relations, a function which he assumed on September 4, 2023. Prior to this, he was the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia from 2017 to 2023. His diplomatic journey includes key home office and foreign assignments as DFA Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary of the Office of Public Diplomacy, Consul General in Shanghai and Chongqing, Minister and Consul General in Bangkok, Executive Director at the DFA Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs, First Secretary, then Minister, at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore (on secondment to the APEC Secretariat as Program Director), and as junior officer at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing. Ambassador Jose has been recognized for his exceptional service and contributions to diplomacy. He was conferred the Gawad Mabini with the rank of Dakilang Kamanong (Grand Cross) by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on June 26, 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Benigno S. Aquino III on June 28, 2016. Ambassador Jose has also been recognized for his meritorious contribution to Philippine diplomacy through his published work, as co-editor of "A Handbook on Philippine Public Diplomacy," published by the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2016. Ambassador Charles C. Jose is married to Mrs. Maria Victoria H. Jose, and they have been blessed with two daughters.