The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) conducted a two-day online Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) for Spouses of Foreign Service Personnel for eight (8) participants whose respective spouses are personnel of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Department of the Interior and Local Government – Philippine National Police (DILG-PNP) due for foreign assignments in Foreign Service Posts (FSPs).

The Seminar provided lectures and discussions to prepare the spouses on their unofficial roles, duties, and responsibilities at Post. Among those discussed were protocol and social graces, diplomatic immunities and privileges for family members and private staff, pre-departure preparation arrangements, and financial wellness.

The Course’s Resource Persons were: Retired Ambassador Eva G. Betita; Atty. Janina Bustos-Borromeo, Acting Director of DFA’s Law Division, Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs; Mr. Glenn Joseph Q. Obach, Acting Director of DFA’s Benefits and Welfare Division, Human Resource Management Office: and Ms. Monika Kamille B. Limpo, Acting Director of DFA’s Strategic Planning Division, Office of Policy Planning and Coordination.

FSI’s Functional and Transition Programs Section conducted the online “PDOS for Spouses of Foreign Service Personnel” in online synchronous sessions and was simultaneously implemented with the regular PDOS.

Participants of the PDOS for Spouses of Foreign Service Personnel pose for a virtual class picture at the end of the “Roles of Spouses, Protocol, and Social Graces” session led by retired Ambassador Eva G. Betita (first row, third column)