GENERAL EMMANUEL T BAUTISTA (Ret.) was the 44th Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from January 2013 to July 2014. Shortly after retirement from the military service, he was appointed Undersecretary at the Office of the President, Malacañang from 01 September 2014 to 22 June 2020. As Undersecretary, he served as Executive Director of the Cabinet Cluster for Security, Justice, and Peace and was concurrently the Executive Director of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea and Head of the National Task Force on the Whole of Nation Initiative. He was also part of the team that represented the Philippines in the South China Sea arbitration case filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

Currently, he is a Managing Director at the Ayala Corporation, President of the Hero Foundation, member of the WPS (We Protect Our Seas) Philippine Advisory Board, and member of the board of trustees of the Foundation for National Interest. He is also a lecturer at the Development Academy of the Philippines, the National Defense College of the Philippines and the Ateneo School of Government.

General Bautista is a graduate of Philippine Military Academy, Class of 1981, and is one of its outstanding alumni awardees; and of the University of the Philippines (U.P.), Diliman where he earned a Masters in Business Administration degree and was a recipient of the U.P. Alumni Association distinguished alumni award for peace and social cohesion.

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Mr. Jonathan E. Malaya is a dedicated public servant with over 25 years of experience in government, having served in leadership roles across all three branches of the Philippine government. Most recently, he served as Assistant Director-General of the National Security Council and is currently a member of the WPS Philippine Advisory Board.

In the Executive Branch, Mr. Malaya held key positions as Undersecretary, Assistant Secretary, and Chief of Staff in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education (DepEd), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and the Office of the President. In the Legislative Branch, he served as Director II and Supervising Legislative Staff Officer in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the Judiciary, he was Judicial Staff Head to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura.

He is also an accomplished author and educator, having written five books, including Stewards of the Nation: Inaugural Visions from Aguinaldo to Duterte, which reached No. 8 on the PowerBooks Best Seller List. He teaches courses on ethics, public policy, and accountability at the University of the Philippines–National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG), the University of Makati, the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), and San Sebastian College–Recoletos.

During the Duterte Administration, he served as DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson for the department, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), and the National Task Force COVID-19.

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Ms. Sophiya Navarro is the Program Manager for Security and Innovation at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Philippines.

She is the editor of several KAS publications and has authored articles for KAS, Rappler, the Ateneo de Manila University – School of Government (ASOG), and 9DashLine, covering various topics on security and governance.

Sophiya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations with a specialization in East and Southeast Asian Studies, as well as a Minor in Literature (English) from the Ateneo de Manila University, where she graduated with honors in 2018 under a full scholarship.

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Mr. Philip Alegre is an International Relations (IR) scholar and security analyst specializing on Philippine strategic interests, the Philippine-US Alliance, and great power dynamics. He is currently a Non-Resident Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum. Recently, he finished his fellowship with the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a proud graduate of the Security Sector Governance and Reform Program of the Folke Bernadotte Academy of Sweden (2022) and the Yeosu Academy on the Law of the Sea (2024) conducted by the Korea Maritime Institute.

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Ms. Tonette de Jesus is the Senior Program Manager for Governance and Foreign Relations at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Philippines. Prior to her work at KAS, she was a Political Economy Consultant for the Philippine Governance Advisory Team at the World Bank Office in the Philippines, Program Manager for the Asian Development Bank-Asian Institute of Management Knowledge Hub, and Research Officer at the International Rice Research Institute. She has authored chapters for and edited international and regional security publications. Her opinion pieces as an international development practitioner have been featured in Rappler and the 9DashLine. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Management Economics (Merit Scholar) from the Ateneo de Manila University and a brief stint in the corporate world, Tonette pursued her master’s degree in International Political Economy and Development, specializing in International and Development Economics, from Fordham University, where she received the Matteo Ricci Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement.

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Dr. Hall is the Executive Director of University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies, UP’s policy research unit. She is a Professor of Political Science at University of the Philippines Visayas and UP Scientist III, with an established research and publication portfolio on security, civil-military relations, and gender/rebel integration in the army. She earned her Masters and PhD from Northeastern University, USA on a Fulbright-Hayes scholarship. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Asian Political and International Studies Association; former President of the Philippine Political Science Association; current editor of International Science Perspectives; and current member of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education Technical Panel for Political Science.

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Since he founded The Stratbase Group in 2004, Prof. Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit has provided top-level strategic analysis and thought leadership on global issues in the Philippines.

He is the President of Stratbase Institute, an independent, international think tank based in the Philippines. In the age of geopolitical uncertainties and technological advancements, Stratbase ADR Institute gives equal importance to the interdependent nature of states, sectors, and stakeholders for its strategic analyses and policy initiatives in a multi-polar world.

As a public policy analyst and geo-strategist, he thinks beyond politics for his political risk assessment that is also data-driven. With his extensive experience in legislation and policy making including serving as Undersecretary of the Department of Education, Deputy Secretary of the Philippine Senate and being Chief of Staff of a Senate President, he continues to help Stratbase’s clients and partners understand the interplay between business and government and the impact of legislative, regulatory, and geo-politics on their strategic initiatives.

Professor Manhit obtained his Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Bachelor’s Degree in Philippine Studies (Major in Political Science and History) from the University of the Philippines. A member of Phi Gamma Mu International Honors Society Beta Chapter.

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Mr. Don McLain Gill is a geopolitical analyst, author, and lecturer at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University, Manila. He is also a non-resident fellow at the Stratbase ADR Institute, a visiting senior fellow at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), and a non-resident fellow at the USANAS Foundation. He specializes in Philippine foreign policy, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, and India-Southeast Asia security relations. He has written several books, book chapters, peer-reviewed international journal articles, newspaper columns, and commentaries for renowned international affairs publishers. He is also regularly invited as reviewer by various scopus-indexed journals on international security. He attained his Masters of Arts (MA) with Distinction in International Relations at Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

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RADM Rommel Jude Ong (Ret) served in the Philippine Navy until his compulsory retirement.in 2019. His last posting was as Vice Commander, during which he chaired various committees covering naval diplomacy, naval modernization, basing and infrastructure development, and career management
program for the uniformed and civilian personnel. Earlier in his career he has successfully commanded three (3) commissioned naval vessels, and later the Naval Intelligence Security Force, the Naval Task
Forces 11 and 80, Director of the Fleet Marine Warfare Center, and the Naval Forces West, which has operational jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea. He has also occupied senior staff positions such as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Naval Operations (N3), the Assistant Deputy Chief for Joint Operations (AJ3)
and the Naval Inspector General. While he was still in the active service, he has written four (4) naval manuals focusing on the following subjects: naval decision-making process, naval exercises, naval operations, and protocols of the naval inspector general service. He is currently affiliated with the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG) as a Professor of Praxis and Senior Research Fellow.
RADM Ong is a graduate of the Philippine Military Class of 1987. He completed his GSC-equivalent training at the US Naval War College and his Senior Executive
Course on National Security (MNSA-equivalent) at the National Defense College of the Philippines. He
completed his Masters in Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management.

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Renato Cruz De Castro is a distinguished professor at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University, Manila, and holds the Dr. Aurelio Calderon Chair in Philippines-American Relations. He is an adjunct faculty at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), where he handles the module International Security Studies. (ISS). He was a visiting fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) of the Japanese Ministry of Defense in the summer of 2018. He was a visiting researcher at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) from June to August 2017. From September to December 2016, he was based in the East-West Center in Washington D.C. as the U.S.-ASEAN Fulbright Initiative Researcher from the Philippines. He is an alumnus of the Daniel Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DIAPCSS) in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. In 2009, he became the U.S. State Department ASEAN Research Fellow from the Philippines and was based in the Political Science Department of Arizona State University.

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