EDUCATION
Juris Doctor, Ateneo De Manila School of Law (2002)
AB Communication, Ateneo De Manila University (1997)
High School, Ateneo De Manila (1992)
Grade School, La Salle Greenhills (1988); La Salle Bacolod (SY1981-82 up to SY1985-86)
PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
• National President (2018-term ending 2021), official Spokesperson (2015-2018) and Labor Organizer (2014-present) of socialist labor center, the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), composed of seventy-one (71) active unions in the industrial, service, and agricultural sectors; handles political campaigns and mass mobilizations on national and key international issues like contractualization, wage, high prices, taxation, national budget, health, housing, and social services, neo-liberal policies, social justice, and good governance, imperialism and general issues that concern the workers as a class; active in labor movement building.
• National President (2015-term ending 2020) of the Solidarity of Unions in the Philippines for Empowerment and Reforms (SUPER) Federation composed of twenty-six (26) active unions in the plastics, garments, food, trucking, and other industries; handles CBA planning, negotiation and implementation, labor relations and standards issues, education of union members, workers publication, tactics planning in local struggles, and union organizing, expansion, and consolidation.
• National Executive Council member (2008-2013) of the socialist Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM); its lecturer on the socialist alternative; spokesperson in public demonstrations; active in mass movement building.
• Board of Trustees member (2010-2013) of watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition and legal counsel in its campaign against privatization of electricity.
• Private law practitioner (2008-present) and handled: (a) high publicity cases such as the frustrated murder of celebrity Janelle Manahan and the action for spousal support of Mary Jolly, actor Derek Ramsay’s wife; (b) public interest cases such as obtaining a Writ of Kalikasan (environmental protection) to enjoin the privatization of water resources in Indang, Cavite, and appearing as counsel for watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition to oppose high electricity rates at the Energy Regulatory Commission; (c) pro bono cases for the labor and urban poor sectors.
• Senior Associate (2006-2008) and Associate (2004-2006) in Chavez Miranda Aseoche Law specializing in public interest cases versus former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (plunder cases involving malversation of OWWA funds and the fertilizer fund scam; Supreme Court petition to protect freedom of speech relative to the Hello Garci controversy); versus former First Lady Imelda Marcos (involving the Marcos ill-gotten wealth); for activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes (Manila Peninsula siege); for rebel soldiers charged with mutiny against the Arroyo administration.
PUBLISHED WORKS
• “The Austrian Medical Waste Project in the Philippines”, How to Challenge Illegitimate Debt: Theory and Legal Case Studies, Aktion Finanz Schweiz, Basel, Switzerland, November 2009.
[https://www.financialjustice.ie/download/pdf/how_to_challenge_illeg_debt_book.pdf]
• “Revisiting Credibility of Police Witness”, Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 23, 2011.
[https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/philippine-daily-inquirer-1109/20110123/283145720182349]
• “Demystifying Contractualization: Why Manpower Agencies Are Useless” (published in German), Südostasien, March 8 & 16, 2019.
[https://suedostasien.net/entzauberung-der-kontraktarbeit-teil-i/?fbclid=IwAR1LsXnhvWWtdnRpz3LSQC8dxPfcvTbJH3J9hQKT8kVJWYayZDV6GNIGGMo]
[https://suedostasien.net/entzauberung-der-kontraktarbeit-teil-ii/?fbclid=IwAR38PrtSyXIiHqYmKbA9S1mqoDtstBc5BQvsAM0_CbRlRDeVG7x9_0oZzs8]
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
• Bangkok Forum, International Center for Labor Solidarity (ICLS), Bangkok, Thailand, November 2019
• Annual Fight Inequality Week, Equality Trust, London, United Kingdom, January 2019
• General Assembly/ Anniversary, Maybank Union Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 2018
• Tokyo Forum, International Center for Labor Solidarity (ICLS), Tokyo, Japan, September 2017
• Seoul Forum, International Center for Labor Solidarity (ICLS), Seoul, Korea, September 2015
• Congress, Partai Rakyat Demokratik (PRD), Jakarta, Indonesia, March 2015
• Manila Forum, International Center for Labor Solidarity (ICLS), Manila, October 2014
• Asia-Pacific Meeting, World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), Port Dickinson, Malaysia, October 2013
• Socialist Conference, Parti Sosiaslis Malaysia (PSM), Kuala Lumpur, November 2012
