OSA receives Gawad Mabini Award

Alumni Update July 7 – 13, 2025

Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee (OSA) and Director General of the Foreign Service Institute, Atty. Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III was recently conferred the Gawad Mabini Award, an honor bestowed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines in recognition of his exemplary contributions to the Philippine Foreign Service.

The conferment took place during the 127th anniversary celebration of the Department of Foreign Affairs, with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro presenting the award on behalf of the President on July 1, 2025.

Director General Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III (center) strikes a pose with the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) family.

The Gawad Mabini – Dakilang Kamanong (Grand Cross) is the highest distinction given to Filipinos who have rendered service or promoted the interests of the Republic of the Philippines at home or abroad.

Atty. Fernandez graduated from Silliman University High School in 1985 and was later conferred as an OSA in 2021, in the field of International Relations and Diplomacy. He was previously assigned in Canada as Philippine Charge d’Affaires and now heads the Foreign Service Institute as Director General in Manila.

Atty. Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III poses with his wife, Ambassador Bernadette Therese C. Fernandez.