Ma. Remedios Dominique "Mardi" Mapa-Suplido is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Philippines, following over 34 years in top management positions across government and the non-profit sector.

Mardi’s expertise includes strategic planning, policy dialogue, multi-stakeholder collaboration and social mobilization, with specialization in development areas of good governance, peace and human rights, health systems strengthening, disaster resilient housing, youth organizing and the rights of the child.

Mardi has held national and local executive and legislative government posts – as Chairperson of the National Youth Commission under the Cory Aquino administration, as an elected Provincial Board Member in the Province of Negros Occidental, and as Director for the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process handling peace talks with rebel returnees.

Before Habitat, Mardi was Build Change’s Country Director for Philippines and Indonesia, following seven years as the Philippines Country Manager for The Fred Hollows Foundation. Mardi was also the Local Governance Specialist for AusAID Manila and has managed several foreign-funded projects for USAID, CIDA, EU, WB and UNDP.

As Habitat’s Chief Executive Officer, Mardi is responsible for the leadership and growth of Habitat Philippines managing strategic people and operational development. She also drives the progress of the Negros Occidental Impact 2025 project which in partnership with the Hilti Foundation aims to build sustainable and disaster-resilient housing communities using the Cement Bamboo Frame technology to help address the housing gap in Negros Occidental.

Philip Arnold "Randy" Tuaño is the Dean of the Ateneo School of Government. He served as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University. He is also a lecturer at the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG). He also taught at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. As an academic, he has several published articles in journals such as the Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, the Japan Social Innovation Journal, the Philippine Journal of Devleopment and the Philippine Review of Economics, among others.

Currently, Randy is also the coordinator for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (Philippines Chapter), a global network of universities and research organizations involved in sustainable development and the Philippine Human Development Network, an academic and civil society membership organization dedicated to pursue the capabilities approach in development planning and programming.

Prior to his academic career, he was involved in several NGOs and is associated with the Foundation for Media Alternatives and the KASAGANA-KA Mutual Benefit Assocaition. He worked as a researcher for CODE-NGO and as a development associate of Peace and Equity Foundation. He has worked in government as Director III of the Macro Policy Unit of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) from 2001 to 2004.

Rosalie "Rose" C. Romero is a public Affairs expert with more than 20 years of expertise and combined experience in the public, private, and civil society sectors, and a proven track record in design and execution of effective and successful communications campaigns, government and other stakeholders engagement programs, crisis communications and management, social impact communications, public policy engagement, policy and political communications, and strategic and award-winning CSR and Sustainability programs.

Rose has worked in various areas and industries, the most recent of which is in the tech industry's digital platforms sub-sector. She has been leading the Public Affairs and Sustainability team at foodpanda Philippines for more than three years now, after her stint at Grab as part of the PH and SEA Public Affairs teams.

During her time in the public sector, she joined and supported former secretary Teresita "Ging" Quintos Deles in various capacities during her terms first as Lead Convenor at the National Anti-Poverty Commission, and later as Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process under both the Arroyo and Aquino Administrations where Rose concluded her public service as Assistant Secretary for Communications concurrently serving as Chief of Staff.

Rose's experience in politics began when she joined the campaign of Sen. Mar Roxas in 2007 first as part of Senate Office, and later on as Senior Political Officer. Prior to this, she worked with Deles and other former cabinet secretaries in 2005 as they established and built the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance or INCITEGov. Rose is also one of the earliest professionals who worked in the early years of climate change advocacy in the Philippines in the late 1990s thru the NGO Institute of Climate, Energy and Environment or ICEE, which she joined a year after graduating from the University.

Rose earned her Bachelor of Science Major in Legal Management at the Ateneo De Manila University. She has also received training courses in Strategic Political Communications and Building Political Brands at the International Academy for Leadership in Germany and Facilitation of Dialogue Processes and Mediation Efforts at the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Sweden.

Alberto “Bertie” Lim is actively involved in development work, most especially in the fields of health, environmental conservation and good governance. He was the Executive Director of Makati Business Club after serving as President/Director of Ten Knots Philippines, Inc. and Ten Knots Development Corporation, owner and developer of EI Nido Resorts. Other than currently being the President of Culion Foundation, Inc., he also chairs the El Nido Foundation board. Bertie was appointed Secretary of the Department of Tourism under the Aquino administration in June 2010. He served as Director of the Development Bank of the Philippines until 2016.

Bertie graduated with a degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University. He earned his Master's degrees in Business Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Mario “Mayong” J. Aguja, Ph.D. is a public sociologist and a peace advocate. He is a professor at the Department of Sociology of the Mindanao State University-General Santos City. He teaches undergraduate sociology and peace education courses and graduate courses in Public Administration, Sustainable Development, and Philippine Studies. He is currently the Faculty Regent of the Mindanao State University System. He is actively involved in public sector unionism and the President of the MSU-GenSan Faculty Union. He is also actively involved in security sector reform (SSR) and at present the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum on Security Sector Governance (IPF-SSG) in Southeast Asia.

As a son of Mindanao, Mayong is actively involved in peace initiatives in the southern Philippines. He is currently a member of the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB), a seven member body tasked to oversee the process of decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons.

Mayong served as the President of the Philippine Sociological Society (PSST), Trustee of the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) in 2019 & 2020. He was Trustee of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from 2010 - 2016. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress from 2002 - 2007 (12th & 13th congresses) representing Akbayan.

He studied AB Sociology at the MSU-GenSan and earned his master’s degree in Sociology at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He was an International Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Sociology at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He took up graduate studies in Comparative Culture at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan and later finished his doctorate degree in International Cooperation Studies at the Graduate School of International Development (GSID), Nagoya University, Japan.

Yasmin "Yas" Busran-Lao is a former secretary of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos and an ex officio panel member of the Government Peace Negotiating Panel for Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GPNP-MILF).

She was involved in crafting the Gender and Development Code of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the advocacy campaigns for the drafting of the Philippine National Action Plan (NAP) on United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Internationally, she was part of the team that drafted the Philippines NGO Shadow Report in 2006 for the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that included a section on the rights of Moro women and indigenous women.

She co-founded the Muslim women’s rights and development organisations Nisa Ul-Haqq Fi Bangsamoro (Women for Truth and Justice in the Bangsamoro) and Al Mujadilah Development Foundation. The former is a network of Muslim women leaders advocating for women’s rights in the context of Islam and culture, and the later is geared toward the development of impoverished communities and status of women through peace initiatives.

In 2005, she received the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Fellowship Award for Public Service.

In 2010, she ran for the Senate in the national elections under the Liberal Party ticket. Despite not obtaining a seat, she never faltered in her pursuit for her advocacies for the underrepresented Muslim minorities and its women.

Edilberto "DJ" C. De Jesus completed in June 2019 a three-month research fellowship at the Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He holds a Professor Emeritus appointment at the Asian Institute of Management and is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow of the Ateneo School of Government. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Cagayan de Oro College and Far Eastern University. He has been on the Advisory Board of Integrity Initiative, Inc., and Philippine Business for Education, from their inception. He chairs the Education Committee of the board of Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, established by Artemio Panganiban, former Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court. He is also an independent director of Phinma, Inc.

At AIM, DJ served in, and subsequently led, the Rural Development Management Program, which established the Masters in Development Management for managers in the government and not-for-profit sectors. He also served as president of Far Eastern University (1995-2002), the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City (2007-2008) and the Asian Institute of Management (2009-212).

DJ's engagement in the public sector began with his one-year secondment from AIM to serve as Deputy Peace Commissioner in 1987. Concurrent with the PeaceCom assignment, he served as Presidential Adviser on Rural Development in the Cabinet of President Corazon Aquino from 1988 until 1992. He also served under President Gloria Arroyo as Secretary of the Department of Education (2002-2004) and took the Philippine turn to preside over the governing council of the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in 2003. He left the Arroyo Cabinet in 2004 to serve through 2007 as SEAMEO Secretariat Director in Bangkok.

Teresita Quintos Deles, also known as “Ging,” is a civil society activist at the forefront of women, peace, and good governance movements in the Philippines. She co-founded and held leadership roles in organizations such as Coalition for Peace (1987), the National Peace Conference (1990), the Multi-Sectoral Peace Advocates (1990), the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute (1991), and the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (2006), among others. She spearheaded the founding of several women’s organizations and coalitions, including PILIPINA (1981), the Philippine Women’s Research Collective (1984), the Legislative Advocates for Women (1987), and the Women’s Action Network for Development/WAND (1990). She sat as an Expert-Member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) in 1991-1994 and was elected as Committee Rapporteur for the years 1993-1994.

She crossed over from civil society to government service and became the first woman Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, with Cabinet rank. She served a first term in 2003-2005 and her second term under the second Aquino presidency in 2010-2016 saw the landmark signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). The CAB marked the end of 17 years of negotiations and four decades of armed conflict between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Three other peace tables were brought to a peaceful completion under her watch.

In the same period, a nationwide peace-and-development program for conflict-affected areas was successfully implemented and the Philippines became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt and rigorously implement a National Action Plan (NAP) on the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS).

After leaving public office in 2016, she assumed the position of Senior Mediation Adviser in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs’ Standby Mediation Team. She also chaired INCITEGov’s Board of Trustees from 2017 to 2021 and led its women’s political project.

In 2017, she co-founded EveryWoman, a women’s coalition and a leading citizens’ hub in opposing creeping authoritarianism and misogyny in the Philippines. She is also currently the lead convenor of Tindig Pilipinas, the Coalition of political and sectoral Hubs which has been in the forefront of the citizens' defense of democracy since 2017.

In December 2018, she was designated as one of three Philippine representatives in the ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry (AWPR). She joined the independent International Commission on Inclusive Peace (ICIP) in December 2020 and has been a member of the Principles for Peace (P4P) Foundation Governing Board.

Patricia "Tatti" B. Licuanan, Ph.D. is a social psychologist, educator, and women’s rights and empowerment activist. As an academic she has been professor and chair of the Department of Psychology and academic vice-president of Ateneo de Manila University and president of Miriam College. She has played leadership roles in the women’s movement both nationally and internationally, serving as chair of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women as well as NGO networks in the Asia and Pacific region. At the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995, she led the negotiations on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most comprehensive and progressive global blueprint for women’s rights and empowerment. She was the chairperson of Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) from 2010 to 2018, during which she was in charge of administering increased access to and quality of tertiary education for all. She is currently a trustee of the United Board: For Christian Higher Education in Asia, a nongovernmental organization that works with Asian colleges and universities.

Tatti received her M.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and acquired her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Pennsylvania State University.

Luisito "Louie" Montalbo has more than a decade of experience in the peace process, including negotiations, conflict resolution, disarmament, demobilization, reintegration (DDR), normalization and transition process post peace agreement, developing and managing development work in conflict-affected communities. He also has institution development, governance and organization development, human resource development, monitoring and evaluation, change management, project management, and leadership experience.

Aside from his work as management consultant to various projects and institutions, Louie has served as Undersecretary and Executive Director of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) during the Aquino Administration. His mandates include as member of various mechanisms for peace process with MILF; as representative of Philippine government for Sajahtra Bangsamoro; Philippine government negotiator with smaller rebel movements; and as Operations Executive Director of Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program for conflict affected areas. He is now an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB). Also as Political Adviser, Policy and Legal Adviser for the Education for Pathways to Peace in Mindanao, a DFAT-funded project for BARMM.

Louie earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. He finished his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at the University of the Philippines.

Imelda "Mely" M. Nicolas was appointed in 2010 as Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), a Cabinet-level Secretary position under the Office of the President of the Philippines. She held this position until June 30, 2016 as her term is co-terminus with that of Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III.

After her most recent stint in government, Mely became actively involved in the work of Metropolis Asia where she currently serves as Co-Chair. She is also a member of the Metropolis International Steering Committee which organizes the Annual International Metropolis Conference, the world’s biggest conference of researchers, academe, policy-makers and international and regional organizations focusing on Migration, Mobility and Development. She is also a lifetime women's rights advocate and the head of the Philippine delegation during the 10th anniversary of the Beijing UN Conference on Women held in 1995, gave a toast at Beijing+25 for the 25th anniversary of the UN Conference on Women, and currently sits as the President of the Samahan ng mga Pilipina para sa Reporma at Kaunlaran (SPARK!).

Mely also currently serves as a member of the Board of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), International Migration Initiative (IMI), and the Migration and Advisory Board (MAB) of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Dr. JC Punongbayan is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE). He earned his PhD from UPSE in 2021, where he also graduated summa cum laude and valedictorian in 2009 and was awarded the José Encarnación Jr. Award for Excellence in Economics and the Gerardo P. Sicat Award for Best Undergraduate Thesis. He previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the World Bank Office in Manila, the FEU Public Policy Center, and the National Economic and Development Authority. His current research interests are macroeconomics, Philippine economic history, education economics, and development economics. JC writes a weekly economics column for Rappler.com. He is also co-founder of Usapang Econ and co-host of Usapang Econ Podcast. In 2023, his first book, False Nostalgia: The Marcos “Golden Age” Myths and How to Debunk Them, was published by Ateneo de Manila University Press. In 2024, JC received The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for economics.

Sandino Soliman graduated from the University of the Philippines in 2006 with a degree in BA Philosophy. A passion for volunteerism led him to work in the national office of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks, or CODE-NGO, the largest aggrupation of NGOs, POs, and cooperatives starting 2009. Since then, he has immersed himself with coalition building and has been engaged in training and advocacies for transparency, accountability and participation in governance. He is the Executive Director of CODE-NGO.

Atty. Ma. Aleta L. Tolentino is actively engaged with various movements that promote the protection and preservation of democracy, women empowerment and citizens active participation in governance. She is currently the chair and president of People Power Volunteers for Reform (PPVR), a social movement of volunteers from all sectors bound together to make efforts for the upliftment and empowerment of the poor. She is also a convener of Tindig Pilipinas, a coalition of various cause-oriented groups that commits to protect Philippine democracy. She once served as president of the Kiwanis Club of Pamana and Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis Division 4B1.

Aleta is also currently the president of Saints John & Paul Education and a member of the Board of Directors and Legal Counsel of Saviour Medical & Dental Cooperative, both located in Calamba, Laguna. She is currently a member of the Provincial Health Board. She serves as a council member of National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Council, representing NAPC-Basic Sectors, with which she is also affiliated as legal counsel.

Previously, Aleta was part of the Board of Philpost Leasing Corporation as member and legal consultant of the Philippine Postal Corporation. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). For the past 40 years, she has worked with the academe with various institutional programs.

Aleta completed her Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, Bachelor of Laws and Doctorate of Laws at the University of Santo Tomas. She holds a Master in Health and Hospital Administration from the Ateneo de Manila University. She was also part of a special course in Advanced International Arbitration & Mediation at the International Law Institute of Georgetown University in Washington DC.