[2] However, by the following March the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had announced that it was ready to close the embassy at any time the United States were to invade the country.

[7] The DFA began considering fully reopening the embassy in 2008 owing to improving conditions in Iraq at the time,[7] a position reaffirmed by Vice President Noli de Castro early the following year.

[10] The embassy fully relocated back to Baghdad in November 2011,[1] capped with a visit by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to Iraq in January 2012.

[20] Beyond these functions, the embassy has also engaged in other activities, such as gathering letters from overseas Filipinos and even some Iraqis in support of Philippine troops fighting in the siege of Marawi.

Led by Elmer G. Cato, at the time serving as the mission's chargé d'affaires en pied, the diplomats promised to defend the embassy or die together rather than be taken hostage by Islamic State (IS) insurgents despite the worsening situation in Iraq at the height of the country's war against IS.