WE INVITE YOU TO AN EVENT CO-ORGANIZED BY
THE ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY PRESS, THE ATENEO SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT,
THE ATENEO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, THE ATENEO SCHOOL OF LAW,
AND THE ATENEO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

(Ateneo University Press)
(Shopee)
(Lazada)
The Ateneo de Manila University Press and the Ateneo Professional Schools are pleased to announce the launch of “Countering COVID-19: Cases in Crisis Response” on July 15, 2021, 2:00 PM (PHT).
In this event, the editors, authors, and invited speakers will highlight key messages from the book surrounding the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and the impact of the pandemic on specific industries. In particular, the panel will discuss the country’s vaccination campaign and the population’s vaccine hesitancy, the issues of the indigent and vulnerable populations during this protracted pandemic, and the challenges of local public health governance.
The event will be moderated by Ms. Marites D. Vitug (Rappler). Dr. Edilberto C. De Jesus (Ateneo School of Government) will introduce the book, and will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit (Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health), Hon. Mar-Len Abigail S. Binay (City of Makati), Dr. Mary Racelis (Ateneo de Manila University), and Mr. Barry Paulino (Philippine Constructors Association).
We look forward to having you join us!

Moderator
Marites D. Vitug
Editor-at-Large, Rappler
Chair, Journalism for Nation Building Foundation
Marites Dañguilan Vitug, a leading Filipino investigative journalist and author, is editor-at-large for Rappler and chair emeritus of the Journalism for Nation Building Foundation. She was editor of Newsbreak magazine, a trailblazer in Philippine investigative journalism. Her books include Rock Solid: How the Philippines Won its Maritime Case against China; Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court (which exposed critical weaknesses in the country’s highest court); Power from the Forest: The Politics of Logging; Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao (with Glenda M. Gloria); and, with Criselda Yabes, Jalan Jalan: A Journey through EAGA.
Marites has a degree in A.B. Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines and pursued postgraduate studies in world politics from the London School of Economics. She was a Harvard Nieman fellow and Asian Public Intellectual and has won awards for her books and reporting on Philippine justice, security, and political affairs, including the Courage in Journalism Award from the US-based International Women’s Media Foundation.

Editor’s “About the Book”
Edilberto C. De Jesus, PhD
Senior Research Fellow, Ateneo School of Government
Dr. Edilberto De Jesus, Professor Emeritus, served as the president of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) from 2009 to 2012. Prior to this appointment, he was president of the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City (2008–2009). He accepted a concurrent appointment as Presidential Adviser on Rural Development in the Aquino Cabinet in 1988 while serving as Deputy Commissioner in the Peace Commission. He returned to AIM in 1992 as Associate Dean for Research (1992–1995), leading the team that established the AIM Policy Forum, and serving as its first Chair. He then served as president of Far Eastern University (FEU) in Manila in 1995. From 1995 to 2002, he served on the boards of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) and the Coordinating Council for Private Educational Associations. In 2002, he was appointed Secretary of Education before serving as Secretariat Director (2005–2007) of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in Bangkok. Currently, Dr. De Jesus also serves as Senior Research Fellow of the Policy Center of the Ateneo School of Government. Dr. De Jesus completed his MA in Philosophy and PhD in History at Yale University. He graduated cum laude from the BA Honors Course in the Humanities of Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU). AdMU, FEU, and Xavier University–Ateneo de Cagayan have conferred on him a PhD in the Humanities, Honoris Causa.

Panelist
Manuel Dayrit, MD, MSc
Professor, Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit was Secretary of Health (Minister) of the Philippines from 2001 to 2005 when the Department of Health (DOH) was recognized for its effective implementation of disease control programs (including for SARS, dengue, tuberculosis, and vaccine-derived polio). From 2005 to 2012, he was director of the Department of Human Resources for Health at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. He then joined the academe as dean of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health from 2013 to 2019. He was the founding director of the Philippines Field Epidemiology Training Program and directed it from 1986 to 1997. For work in the control of AIDS, cholera, and Red Tide, he was named an Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Academy of Science and Technology in 1990. Dr. Dayrit has degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University (AB, 1972; honorable mention), the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (MD, 1976), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MSc with distinction, 1982, British Council Scholar).

Panelist
Hon. Mar-Len Abigail S. Binay, JD
Mayor, City of Makati
Hon. Mar-Len Abigail Binay graduated from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Ecology, Major in Human Settlements and Planning. Aftwich, she attended the Ateneo School of Law from 1997 to 2001 where she obtained her juris doctorate degree and continued on to pass the bar exams in 2002. Upon passing the bar, she became an active member of the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism (MABINI), providing free legal services to poor clients. She is also a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Federacion Internaciones de Abogadas (FIDA). She first joined the political arena in the 2007 congressional elections and handily won as Representative of the second district of Makati. She served two more terms after winning in the 2010 and 2013 polls. While serving in Congress, she remained at the forefront of livelihood, job generation and medical assistance programs. Upon her election as Mayor of Makati in the May 2016 elections, Mayor Abby vowed to restore efficiency, responsiveness and compassion in the delivery of services. One of her priorities is to integrate modern technology into the systems and operations of the city government to boost efficiency, promote transparency and accountability, and enhance the city’s overall competitiveness.

Panelist
Ma. Dominga B. Padilla, MD, FPAO
Co-Convener, Doctors for Truth and Public Welfare

Panelist
Mary Racelis, PhD
Professor, Ateneo de Manila University
Dr. Mary Racelis joined the Ateneo de Manila faculty in June 1960, the first woman professor in the College. Fr. Frank Lynch, SJ, then starting both the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (DSA), invited her to be among his first staff members. Dr. Racelis was born in Manila in 1932 to a Filipino father and American mother. She received her elementary education in the Philippines, finished high school and college in New York (Cornell University, Sociology and Anthropology 1954), returned to the Philippines with her husband Helmuth Hollnsteiner in 1955, and completed her MA in Sociology at the University of the Philippines in 1960. In 1975 De La Salle University awarded her a Doctorate in the Social Sciences, honoris causa. In 2003, the Ateneo de Manila University awarded her a Doctorate in Humanities, honoris causa.

Panelist
Barry G. Paulino
Executive Director, Philippine Constructors Association
Mr. Barry Paulino is the Executive Director of the Philippine Constructors Association, the Chief Operating Officer of PCA Foundation, the General Manager of Philconstruct Events, and the Chief of Staff of the Secretariat of the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors’ Associations. He was a member of the Roadmap Technical Working Group and one of the champions who worked on translating the Roadmap into detailed action plans that were presented at the 4th Philippine Construction Industry Congress in November 2019.
Contributors
Cenon R. Alfonso, MD, FPCS, FPSGS,
FRCS (Edin.), FPAHPBS, FPALES
Dr. Cenon R. Alfonso is the current dean of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH). Dr. Alfonso is a practicing Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) surgeon and is the current chief of the section of HPB in the Department of Surgery of The Medical City (TMC) and the vice president of the professional society of HPB surgeons. Concurrently, he heads the Pancreas Cancer Unit of the Cancer Institute of TMC. Prior to his appointment to Ateneo, he was also the president and CEO of UST Hospital, then president and CEO of The Medical City Clark. The public health perspective of surgery is his personal advocacy, which led him to pioneer the structured ambulatory surgical specialty practice in the Philippines in 1995. At the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic, with so many brave volunteers from Ateneo and ASMPH, he joined and led admin, faculty, and students in the acute response team which provided free transport to healthcare workers and PPEs to hospital and isolation facilities. He also participated in government-led and private-sector-led initiatives promoting the practice of health protocols and health care delivery during the pandemic and volunteered as part of the frontliner surgeons of TMC from March onwards.
Joseph Edward B. Alegado, MA, MPM
Joseph Edward B. Alegado teaches postgraduate courses at the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG). He holds a master’s degree in development studies major in agrarian, food, and environmental studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands and a master’s degree in public management (MPM) from the ASoG. He is also a development communications professional working with non-government organizations, environmental movements, and coalitions in the Asia Pacific region.
Ivyrose S. Baysic
Ivy Baysic is currently the head of Ateneo Policy Center, the public policy think tank of the Ateneo School of Government. Prior to joining Ateneo, she served as assistant director of the AIM Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness. Ms. Baysic has more than a decade of professional experience in all aspects of research and publication and management of multimillion development projects.
Jeremie De Guzman MD, MBA, MSc
Dr. Jeremie De Guzman is a public health practitioner, academic, entrepreneur, and medical device designer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Ateneo de Manila University in 2008 and obtained his medical degree with an MBA from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) in 2014. From 2015 to 2018, Jeremie worked as a public health leadership fellow in the Ateneo Center for Health Evidence, Action, and Leadership (AHEALS). He also pursued further studies in the UK, earning an MS in Medical Engineering Design (with distinction) from Keele University. His research as a medical engineering designer focuses on translation of medical devices, medical device regulatory policy for developing countries, sustainability and new materials for medical devices, medical device supply chains, and building domestic capacity on medical devices and equipment especially for underserved and poor populations. Jeremie is currently the project leader of two DOST-PCHRD funded projects developing SARS-COV-2 diagnostics called the ADDS and SWIFTeR projects.
Dorelene V. Dimaunahan, MScM, CFE, CMA, CHRP
Dorelene Villanueva Dimaunahan is an entrepreneur, educator of the country’s top universities, a host, and an author. She graduated from the University of Asia and the Pacific under the MS in Management program and is obtaining her PhD in Business at De La Salle University. She is also a certified franchise executive, certified management accountant, and a certified human resources practitioner. Dorelene has always been supportive of social enterprises. In fact, her dissertation is entitled “Organizational Social Capital in Human Resources Management: The Case of Social Enterprises in the Philippines.” She also hosted a webinar during the pandemic focusing on social enterprises and wrote articles featuring social enterprises, one of which was published in the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) Portal. She is currently the finance head of Communities Organized for Resource Allocation (CORA) and the human resources head of Numbers That Matter, Inc., both social enterprises. Her passion led her to become a business coach and trainer of small and medium enterprises, including social enterprises.
Fiorello R. Estuar, PhD
Dr. Fiorello R. Estuar has served as President/Chairman of FREA Dev & Mgmt Co. Inc since 1967 and a Member/Private Sector Representative of the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) since 2003. He was also the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Balfour from November 2007 to 2014. He was president of Maynilad Water Services from 2004 to 2007, President of First Balfour from 2001 to 2004, a board member of Security Land Corporation from 2004 to 2006, and presidential adviser and head of agency of NIA, PNCC, ESF, and DPWH from 1980 to 1991. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of the Philippines in 1959 and a doctorate in Philosophy degree in Civil Engineering while serving as a faculty and research staff at Lehigh University from 1960 to 1965. Dr. Estuar worked in the USA at Bethlehem Steel and Rust Engineering from 1965 to 1966 and was a faculty member of the UP Graduate School of Engineering from 1968 to 1970. He has also been an FAA and CAA-certified Private Pilot (ASEL Blue Seal Rating) since 1966.
Paul Neilmer Feliciano
Paul Neilmer Feliciano is an economist and program manager at the Ateneo Policy Center and a former consultant at the Asian Development Bank. He also worked as a technical research staff in government agencies and think tanks and had experience in the private sector primarily in the field of market and business intelligence. He obtained his master’s degree in development economics in 2017 and undergraduate degree in business economics in 2009 from the UP School of Economics. His work experience and graduate education is geared toward research in business and public policy, international economics, and data analytics.
Leonardo M. Jaminola III
Leonardo M. Jaminola III is a research assistant at the Ateneo Policy Center. His current work is focused on political dynasties, populism, and inclusive development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of the Philippines Diliman and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in demography from the same university.
Corazón Victoria “Dinky” Nerves Juliano-Soliman
Corazón Victoria “Dinky” Nerves Juliano-Soliman served as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Philippines under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she earned her Master in Public Administration.
Atty. Ma. Tanya Karina A. Lat, LLM
Atty. Ma. Tanya Karina A. Lat is a member of the faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University Law School where she teaches courses on legal ethics, the legal profession, and leadership. Throughout her career, she has championed people’s participation in decision-making, and worked on various policy reform and capacity-building programs aimed at empowering ordinary citizens to engage with government on matters of policy and governance. She has served as consultant to, among others, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Akbayan Citizens Action Party, and the Legal Education Board. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University, a Bachelor of Laws (Juris Doctor equivalent) from the University of the Philippines College of Law, and a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from Georgetown University Law Center.
Cristina Liamzon, PhD
Dr. Cristina M. Liamzon is co-coordinator of the Ateneo OF-LIFE ALSE Program, a six-month empowerment and capacity building program for overseas Filipinos and their families to improve their leadership and financial well-being and become agents of change for their communities towards nation building. She has worked as a development consultant on agrarian reform, gender and rural development, civil society organizations, and migrant concerns. She has extensive experience in networking with CSOs and farmers’ organizations in the Philippines and Southeast Asia on rural development. She holds a BA in Economics from UP, an MSc in Human Settlements Planning from the AIT in Bangkok, an MPA from HKS in Cambridge where she was a Mason Fellow, and a PhD in Social Science from the PUG in Rome. She has written on issues of Filipino migrants, food security, and rural development. She was a co-awardee of the Xavier University Fr. William Masterson Award for Social Development in 2013, and became a Philippine Ashoka Fellow in 2015. She was a recipient of the Go Negosyo Women Entrepreneurs Award and the Global Fairness Award, both in 2016. She is presently a core faculty of Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) and a part-time faculty of the Economics Department of ADMU.
Hon. Mussolini S. Lidasan
Mussolini S. Lidasan is presently a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority in BARMM. He is the founder and currently the executive director of the Al Qalam Institute of Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia of the Ateneo de Davao University. Previously, he was also a commissioner of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission that drafted the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Guillermo M. Luz
Guillermo M. Luz is an associate director at Ayala Corporation, the holding company of one of the oldest and largest diversified business groups in the Philippines. He is also chief resilience officer and advisor of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and was in charge of the establishment of its Emergency Operations Center. He has been a part of Task Force T3 since its inception in April 2020. He served as the private sector co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council from 2011–2018, the public-private council that developed strategies for the long-term competitiveness of the Philippines. Prior to that, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ayala Foundation, executive director of the Makati Business Club, managing director of Knowledge Institute, and secretary-general of NAMFREL. He also served in the APEC National Organizing Committee in 2015 and played a role in the holding of the APEC 2015 CEO Summit.
Prinz P. Magtulis
Prinz Magtulis is a financial journalist and currently serves as senior online editor of Philstar.com, the online news platform of the Philippine Star. Prior to his current post, Prinz was a researcher for the Financial Times and also held stints at Philippine Star and BusinessWorld Publishing Corp. Outside journalism, Prinz is a published academic author with his recent work published in the International Journal of Public Administration and Asian Journal of Social Science. Prinz also holds a master’s degree in public administration. While taking up graduate studies in South Korea, he served as a research intern for the United Nations Development Programme–Seoul Policy Center where he assisted in drafting a policy paper on transparency in Korean developmental aid in 2014. Back in the Philippines, Prinz co-authored a paper on mining policy in the Philippines for Ateneo Policy Center in 2017. He currently teaches journalism at University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
Madeline Mae Ong, MD, MBA
Dr. Madeline Mae Ong is a member of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health research faculty. She was a Public Health and Leadership Fellow of the Ateneo Center for Health Evidence, Action, and Leadership (AHEALS) where she studied issues surrounding primary care in rural settings in the Philippines. Her focus on primary care has led to her contribution to the development of the Competency Certification Framework for Primary Care Providers in accordance with the Universal Health Care Act of the Philippines. Her current research work focuses on health systems and policy, particularly universal health coverage; health service delivery, particularly HIV/AIDS and nutrition in primary care; and health governance, especially during disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic. As an advocate of primary health care, she also practices clinical medicine as a general practitioner.
Gladys Kaye B. Reyes, MD, MBA
Dr. Gladys Kaye B. Reyes is an active Functional and Integrative Medicine Physician whose practice mainly focuses on health promotion, disease prevention, and chronic disease management. She completed her training in Functional Medicine from the Institute of Functional Medicine in the United States and is currently working on her certification. She obtained her BA in Global Health and International Development at New York University and
her MD and MBA from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. She also dedicates her time to public health research through the Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes and periodically contributes to research studies led by the Ateneo Center for Research and Innovation.
Atty. Dion Lorenz L. Romano
Atty. Dion Lorenz L. Romano is the Program Manager of the Governance Research and Development Program for Bangsamoro of the Ateneo Policy Center in the Ateneo School of Government in partnership with the Institute for Autonomy and Governance. He was a former lawyer at the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines.
Robert Y. Siy
Robert Y. Siy is a development economist, city and regional planner, and public transport advocate.
Atty. Hector Soliman
Atty. Hector Soliman acted as Team Leader/ Project Director for eight years in various multi-year access to justice and judicial reform projects. He also worked as a senior government official (Assistant Secretary and Undersecretary), managing the legal affairs of the Department of Agrarian Reform, including adjudication of agrarian disputes, community level mediation programs for farmers, and internal matters such as contract review, procurement, promotions, and personnel discipline. Atty. Soliman has been active in the legal service NGO sector for at least ten years, working closely in the field of agrarian reform law and environmental law, facilitated the formation of a network of legal service organizations in the Philippines which eventually evolved into the Alternative Law Groups, and provided support to the network as well as individual legal NGOs that work in the public interest.
Philamer C. Torio, PhD
Dr. Philamer C. Torio has over twenty-five years of experience in management, finance, teaching, research, and policymaking related to public infrastructure development as a senior corporate officer, government official, and academic scholar. At present, he is an associate professor at the Ateneo School of Government. His teaching and research activities focus on resource management, governance, infrastructure development and finance, as well as public-private partnerships. As the first executive director of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines, he was instrumental in shaping the government’s policy as regards the development of public infrastructure through private sector participation. He has a doctorate in resource management and environmental studies from the University of British Columbia, as well as master’s degrees in various disciplines: engineering from the University of the Philippines, management from the Asian Institute of Management, public administration from Harvard University, and Asia Pacific policy studies from the University of British Columbia. His diverse work experience coupled with various graduate studies allows him to take an interdisciplinary approach towards teaching, research, and capacity building.
Bernadette Chloe P. Torno
Bernadette Chloe P. Torno is a research assistant of the Governance Research and Development Program for Bangsamoro of the Ateneo Policy Center at the Ateneo School of Government in partnership with the Institute for Autonomy and Governance.
Edgardo Valenzuela
Mr. Edgardo Valenzuela’s experience in development work includes policy advocacy, strategic communications, and capacity development, among others. He served as chief of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations based in Rome, Italy. Prior to that, he was the executive director of the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) in the Philippines. He earned an international MBA at the European School of Economics and has also completed the academic requirements for an MS in social psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Jeshamar C. Villasis, MPA
Jeshamar C. Villasis is the executive director of the Philippine Toy Library and a part-time instructor at the University of Santo Tomas. She was a former program officer at the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines.
Xiaoyun (Jack) Xu, PhD
Dr. Xiaoyun (Jack) Xu is a professor at the Department of Operations and Information Technology of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. Before joining Ateneo, Dr. Xu was an associate professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Peking University. His research interests include production planning/scheduling, simulation optimization, and operations management, with applications mainly in supply chain. His research team has received continued support from numerous funding sources including the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Ministry of Finance of China (MOFC), National Science Foundation of the United States (NSF), Symantec Corporation, AT&T, and many other companies. Over the past decade, Dr. Xu has published extensively in a list of top-tier journals and conferences in the fields of industrial engineering and operations research. He also provides consulting services to many industry leaders in a wide range of industries including Alibaba Group, JD.com, Aland Health, Qidi Holdings, and many others.
Atty. Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, LLM
Atty. Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco is a senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center of the Ateneo School of Government and a fellow of the Institute of Autonomy and Governance in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. He is also a lecturer at the Institute of Law in the School of Law and Governance of the University of Asia and the Pacific. He is also an independent legislative and policy consultant. He regularly writes for various media outlets in the Philippines and in Australia. He finished his BA in Philosophy from Ateneo de Manila University, his LLB from Arellano University School of Law, and his MA in Law and Development from the University of Melbourne Law School.