 | Cielito Habito Chief of Party USAID Trade Project |
Dr. Habito is a Professor of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, and currently heads the USAID Trade-Related Assistance for Development (TRADE) Project. In 1992-1998, he served in the Cabinet of President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning, heading the National Economic and Development Authority. He writes the regular “No Free Lunch” op-ed column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Harvard University, Master of Economics from the University of New England (Australia), and Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics, Summa cum Laude from the University of the Philippines.
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 | Franchette M. Acosta Senior Partner Villaraza & Angangco Law Firm |
Ms. Acosta specializes in commercial law, and has counseled clients in foreign investments transactions, mergers and acquisitions of private and public companies and debt and equity offerings (including initial public offerings). She acts as counsel for public/listed and private companies in various industries, such as banking and finance, telecommunications, property development, mining and power and energy. She also represents clients before government agencies for procurement and build-operate and transfer projects. Ms. Acosta obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines where she graduated class valedictorian and cum laude in 1998. She placed 3rd in the 1998 Bar Examinations. She also has a degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines where she graduated magna cum laude in 1994. In 2003, as a Global Hauser Scholar, she obtained her Masters of Law degree from the New York University (NYU) School of Law.
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| Jay L. Batongbacal, PhD.
Associate Professor
University of the Philippines College of Law |
Jay L Batongbacal is a member of the Faculty of the University of the Philippines College of Law, and Director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs & Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center. He holds the degrees of Master of Marine Management and Doctor in the Science of Law, both from Dalhousie University in Canada. Since 1997, he has done diverse work in maritime affairs, including community based fisheries management, coastal resource management, marine environment protection, maritime boundaries, high seas fishing, offshore energy, seafaring, and shipping. He was legal advisor to the Philippine delegation that from 2009-2012 successfully laid claim to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Benham Rise Region before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. He is also among the List of Experts on Marine Scientific Research for purposes of Special Arbitration under Annex VIII of the UNCLOS.
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 | Atty. Dante Miguel V. Cadiz General Counsel and Corporate Secretary San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Group |
Dante Miguel V. Cadiz is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corporation comprising of fourteen (14) domestic facilities and ten (10) international facilities covering China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. He graduated as Class Salutatorian and Dean’s Scholar from Ateneo Law School. He took his MBA also from Ateneo and his Master of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he was crossed-enrolled at the famous Wharton School of Business. He taught at UST Faculty of Civil Law, La Salle-FEU Joint MBA-JD Program, a MCLE Lecturer and a Bar Reviewer. He was former Dean of Manuel S. Enverga University College of Law and used to be a Member of its Board of Trustees.
He worked for ACCRA Law, Romulo Law Offices, The World Bank in Washington DC, and Fil-Estate Group of Companies. He was Senior Board Member for the Second District of Quezon and a Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan Awardee. Aside from being admitted to the Philippine Bar, he was also licensed to practice Law in New York. He is a member of the Philippine Bar Association and Penn and Wharton Club of the Philippines.
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 | Atty. Donemark J.L. Calimon Partner and Head, Dispute Resolution Practice Group Quisumbing Torres |
Donemark Calimon is a partner and the head of Quisumbing Torres' Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He specializes in domestic and international commercial arbitration. He has acted as counsel or arbitrator in several commercial arbitrations under the arbitration rules of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center and the International Chamber of Commerce, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations. He advises and represents multinational companies in various industries, including those in the logistics, transportation, hotels, resorts and tourism, manufacturing, mining, energy, aviation and construction industries in arbitration and arbitration-related proceedings, general litigation and compliance-related matters.
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 | Nilo T. Divina Founder and Managing Partner DivinaLaw |
Nilo is an academic, author, law practitioner, bar reviewer, administrator and leader. He has been teaching for the past 23 consecutive years on various legal subjects including commercial law review, corporation law and intellectual property code. Nilo wrote the ‘Handbook on Commercial Law’ which sold over 4000 copies, the proceeds of which were used to finance the scholarship grants of deserving but financially challenged law students and the construction of a study center near UST. Nilo founded DivinaLaw, a full service law firm in 2006. With currently 44 lawyers and in just over nine years of operations, the firm now ranks as one of the top ten in the country. Nilo graduated Magna Cum Laude and Class Valedictorian, Bachelor of Laws, Faculty of Civil Law, University of Santo Tomas (1989) and is currently Dean of the Faculty of Civil Law. He has been a Member of the Board of Directors at the United Coconut Planters Bank since 2011, Chairman of the Philippine Association of Law Schools since 2015 and President of the Philippine Association of Law Schools since 2013.
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 | Estrella C. Elamparo Senior Partner & Co-Head of Litigation DivinaLaw |
Estrella is currently a Senior Partner at DivinaLaw having previously been Chief legal counsel at Government Service Insurance System where she supervised the work of the Legal Department and represented the agency in all the cases pending before courts and quasi-judicial agencies. Estrella has served as a Board Member of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Partner atTorralba Ereneta Elamparo and Ortega Law Offices, State Prosecutor for the Department of Justice, Prosecution Attorney for the City Prosecutors Office of Manila and a Teacher of Criminal Law at the University of the East Legal Research, San Sebastian. Estrella has a Masters degree in Health Care, Ethics and the Law from the University of Manchester and two Bachelor’s degrees in Law and Journalism respectively from the University of the Philippines.
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 | Atty. Marianne M. Guerrero Senior Vice President, Head, Legal Department SM Investments Corporation |
Marianne (“Ianne”) Malate-Guerrero is the Senior Vice President and Head of the legal team of SM Investments Corporation, the mother company of the entire SM Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the country. As chief legal counsel, she oversees the legal risks and requirements of the internal clients of the legal team. She has about 28 lawyers in her team excluding the banking group subsidiaries of SM. Apart from this role, Ianne Guerrero is likewise SMIC’s newly appointed Compliance Officer and Assistant Corporate Secretary. Prior to joining SM in 2006, Ianne Guerrero worked as Senior Vice President and Legal Head of United Overseas Bank Philippines, the local subsidiary of one of the leading banks in Singapore. Her career as in-house counsel started when she joined Solidbank Corporation in 1998 as Vice President and Legal Risk Officer. Previous to that she was a senior associate at the law firm of Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon and San Jose, where she honed her skills as a lawyer. She is a graduate of the Ateneo School of Law, batch 1988.
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| Manuel L. Manaligod, Jr. Lawyer Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
Atty. Manaligod’s area of practice and expertise is in Business Law, particularly in transactions involving public and private partnerships or joint ventures to undertake infrastructure or developmental projects. He formerly occupied a senior position (Director IV) in the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel in the Office of the President of the Philippines (from 1992 to 1996). In private practice (beginning 1997), Atty. Manaligod continued to be involved in various projects. He has acted as counsel to a foreign company in relation to its proposed bulk water supply/ dam project for Cebu; assisted a toll road corporation in obtaining the requisite consents and approvals from government to achieve financial closing for its express toll way project; helped establish the local subsidiary of and is currently counsel to a foreign engineering company; acted as counsel to a telecoms company, a shipping and port operator and some water utility enterprises amongst others. Atty. Manaligod likewise acted as a legal consultant in 2002 to Stone & Webster. He assisted in the Centennial Group in 2007 and more recently in 2012 assisted a Japan International Cooperation Agency Study Group. More recently he has acted as local legal advisor to foreign consultants which have advised the PPP Center on the feasibility of several proposed PPP transportation solutions.
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 | Geraldine Meneses-Terrible Legal and Compliance Officer Jones Lang Lasalle (Philippines) Inc. |
Ged took her pre-law degree from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and is a graduate of San Beda College of Law. Shortly after her admission to the Philippine Bar in 2008, she joined Fortun Narvasa & Salazar Law Offices. While at said law firm, her practice areas were litigation, corporate housekeeping, mining, family, civil, criminal and labor laws. She is currently the Legal and Compliance Officer of Jones Lang LaSalle (Philippines), Inc., a real estate services company.
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 | Sylvette Y. Tankiang Senior Partner Villaraza & Angangco Law Firm |
Ms. Tankiang heads the Corporate & Commercial law Department of Villaraza & Angangco Law Offices (V&A Law). She has special expertise in the fields of taxation, mergers & acquisitions, banking & finance, securities, and power & energy. Ms. Tankiang earned her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) major in Economics from the De La Salle University, graduating summa cum laude in 1977. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1981, graduating cum laude and valedictorian. She earned her Master of Laws degree from Harvard University in 1986. She is currently the Executive Director of the Harvard Club of the Philippines. Ms. Tankiang is an active member and officer in various local and international law associations. She is a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association and its Committee Coordinator.
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 | John Versantvoort Assistant General Counsel Asian Development Bank |
John Versantvoort is an Assistant General Counsel at Asian Development Bank with 20 years of experience in structuring cross-border investment and finance transactions in Asia and Europe. He leads a team of lawyers focusing primarily on infrastructure, energy & gas, and public & private sector law reform projects in low and middle income countries in Asia. Prior to joining ADB in 2007, John Versantvoort established and successfully developed a legal practice in Japan for Loyens & Loeff, a Benelux law firm. He embarked on his career as an Associate in Allen & Overy (formerly: Loeff Claeys Verbeke) in Amsterdam in 1995, specializing in M&A and private equity transactions, joint ventures, intellectual property law, and disputes related to the foregoing. He is a national of the Netherlands who holds Master’s degrees in Japanese Studies and Dutch Civil Law from Leyden University (Netherlands), and a Master’s degree in East-Asian Law from London University.
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