Commodore Jay Tristan Tarriela is currently serving as the Chief of Coast Guard Staff for Human Resource Management (CG-1) and is also the Adviser to the Commandant on Maritime Security Affairs, as well as the Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea. He successfully completed his Ph.D. at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) under the GRIPS Global Governance (G-cube) Program in Tokyo as a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ASEAN Public Policy Leadership scholar. He has participated in various military and coast guard training programs both in his home country and internationally. Dr. Tarriela holds a graduate degree from the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Graduate School and a Master of Policy Studies from GRIPS and the Japan Coast Guard Academy. He was among the first batch of participants in the Maritime Safety and Security Program jointly launched by both institutions in 2016.

Furthermore, Dr. Tarriela was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of the 2021 Pacific Forum US-Philippines’ Next Generation Leaders’ Initiative. Additionally, he has been chosen as a fellow for the 2021 East-West Center US-Philippines Alliance Fellowship in Washington, DC, USA. Dr. Tarriela has authored opinion-editorial articles for renowned publications such as The Diplomat, The National Interest, and Analyzing War. He also serves as a visiting lecturer at the National Defense College of the Philippines, the Philippine Public Safety College, Ateneo De Manila University School of Government, and the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Graduate School.

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Jay L Batongbacal is a lawyer with degrees in Political Science and Law from the University of the Philippines, as well as Master of Marine Management and Doctor in the Science of Law, both from Dalhousie University (Canada). At present, he is a full Professor and chairs the Graduate Studies Program at the University of the Philippines College of Law, while also serving as Director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center and Chair of the LLM Program Committee. He has worked extensively on maritime affairs since 1997, carrying out research, consultancy work, and teaching, with numerous national and international publications to his credit. Dr. Batongbacal was legal advisor to the Philippines before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Maritime Organization. He has been included among the UNESCO/IOC List of Experts for UNCLOS Annex VIII Special Arbitration on Marine Scientific Research. In 2022, Dr. Batongbacal completed a Taiwan Fellowship Program at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Fellowship at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island, USA. His current research interests include the Law of the Sea, Aerospace Law, and the Law of Naval Warfare.

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Brad GLOSSERMAN is Senior Adviser at Pacific Forum, in Honolulu Hi, where he served for 13 years (2004-2017) as executive director. From 2017 until 2025, when it closed, he was Deputy Director of and Visiting Professor at the Center for Rule-making Strategies, Tama University. He was for 10 years a member of The Japan Times editorial board and writes a weekly column on geopolitics and technology. Brad is co-author, with Gil Rozman, of Japan’s Rise as a Regional and Global Power 2013-2023: A Momentous Decade (Routledge, 2024), author of Peak Japan: The End of Grand Ambitions (Georgetown UP, 2019) and co-author (with Scott Snyder) of The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash (Columbia UP 2015). His newest book, “Tech-gemony: Navigating the New National Security Economy” (with David Lee), which examines the geopolitics of high-technology, will be published this year by Hurst.

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CHOE Wongi is a professor of Indo-Pacific Studies and serves as the Head of the Center for ASEAN–Indian Studies at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA).

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Justice Antonio T. Carpio was sworn in as member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on October 26, 2001. He served in the Supreme Court for 18 years, retiring on October 25, 2019 upon reaching the compulsory retirement age of 70. Justice Carpio retired with a zero backlog of cases. Justice Carpio obtained his law degree from the College of Law of the University of the Philippines where he graduated valedictorian and cum laude in 1975. He was conferred a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by the Ateneo de Davao University in 2009, by the University of the Philippines in 2020, and by the Ateneo de Manila University in 2021. On October 29, 2011, as Guest Speaker at the 50th Founding Anniversary of the Ateneo de Davao College of Law, Justice Carpio launched his advocacy to challenge the validity of China’s nine-dashed line before a tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ever since, he has been giving lectures all over the country on the invalidity of China’s nine-dashed line. In 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs sponsored Justice Carpio on a world lecture tour on the West Philippine Sea dispute. Justice Carpio presented the Philippines’ perspective on the dispute before think-tanks and universities in 30 cities covering 17 countries. In May 2017, Justice Carpio published the book titled The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.

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Shri Harsh Kumar Jain joined the Indian Foreign Service in September 1993.

Over the course of his diplomatic career, he has served at various positions in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and abroad.

He served as India’s Ambassador to Ukraine from 2022-2024, Slovak Republic from 2017-2018, and Kazakhstan from 2014-2017. Prior to this, he served in different capacities at Indian Missions in Moscow (1995-96), Kyiv (1996-98), St. Petersburg (1999-2002), London (2004-07) and Kathmandu (2007-11).

He also served as a Member of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on the Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the context of International Security during 2012-13.

At headquarters in Delhi, he served as the Head of the BIMSTEC and SAARC Division (2020-21), Global Estate Management Division (2019-20) and e-Governance, Information Technology and Cyber Diplomacy Division (2011-14). He served as desk officer for Afghanistan during 2002-04.

Shri Harsh Kumar Jain holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He is married to Smt. Vandana Jain and they have a son.

He speaks Hindi, English and Russian.

He joined the Embassy of India in Manila on 02 August 2024.

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Gen. Eduardo Año is a Filipino public official and retired general of the Philippine Army who currently serves as the National Security Adviser under the administration of President Bongbong Marcos since 2023. He previously served as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government in the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte from 2018 to 2022, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from 2016 to 2017, and the Commanding General of the Philippine Army from 2015 to 2016.

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Dr. Jeffrey Ordaniel is President and CEO of WPS Foundation, a Manila-based maritime security research and policy think tank. Concurrently, he is also Associate Professor of International Security Studies at Tokyo International University (TIU) in Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and specializes in the study of offshore territorial and maritime entitlement disputes in Asia. His teaching and research revolve around maritime security and ocean governance, ASEAN regionalism, and broadly, U.S. alliances and engagements in the Indo-Pacific. From 2016 to 2019, he was based in Honolulu and was the holder of the endowed Admiral Joe Vasey Fellowship at the Pacific Forum. His current research on maritime security in Asia is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 2020-2025.

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