Board of Trustees

Antoinette R. Raquiza

Interim President

Antoinette Raquiza had been APPFI Vice President since its founding in 2015 and assumed the post of Interim President in 2024. Earning her MPhil and PhD in Political Science at the City College of New York Graduate Center, she was a Professor at the University of Philippines Asian Center and Chair of the Consortium of Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (2022-2024). Currently, she is the Convenor of the Political Economy Program of the UP Center for Integrated and Development Studies. She served as Assistant Secretary at the Department of Agrarian Reform and has published on political economy of late development as well as industrial and foreign relations.

Eduardo T. Gonzalez

Secretary-Treasurer

Eduardo Gonzalez holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines. He served as President of the Development Academy of the Philippines, Dean of UP Diliman Asian Center, and Director of the Korea Research Center. He is a published scholar and consultant to major international organizations.

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer

Internal Auditor

Miriam Coronel Ferrer, PhD, was formerly a Professor of politics at the University of the Philippines where she served as Director of the Third World Studies Center and Convenor of UP’s Program on Peace, Democratization and Human Rights. She joined the UN Standby Team of Mediation Experts for three years, and as chief government negotiator, signed the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. She is adviser/board member of various international peace organizations and co-founded the Southeast Asian Network of Women Peace Mediators.

Johnny Tioco

Member

Mr. Tioco is a Filipino businessman with a deep interest in the promotion of people-to-people relations. His business interests are in the areas of infrastructure and real estate development, among others. He is also a member of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies.

Jameson Ong

Member

He is Vice President of the Filipino Chinese Friendship Association, and Secretary-General of the Philippine Soong Ching Ling Foundation as well as the Philippine Chinese Writers Association. He is also founding director of the Philippine Chinese Columnists Association.
 

Core Staff

Luis Estrada

Program Associate

Marilyn Yabut

Administrative Assistant

Alvin Gallardo

Information Technology Administrator

 

Research Fellows

Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem

Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). She obtained her in PhD in Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong. She previously served as Chair of the Department of Political Science (2000 - 2004), Director of the UP Third World Studies Center (2004-2010), and, Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (2017-2023). She was also President, Philippine Political Science Association (2011-2013).

Lucio Pitlo

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is President of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and APPFI Research Fellow. He is a lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University Chinese Studies Program and a regular contributor to South China Morning Post and China-US Focus. He earned his Master of Laws degree at the Peking University in 2015, took up Graduate Professional Studies on Defense, Diplomacy, and Development at the American University in 2018, and was a Taiwan Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the National Chengchi University, Taipei in 2023.

Francisco Lara Jr.

Francisco Lara Jr., PhD, is the Executive Director of the Council for Climate and Conflict Action Asia. He earned his MSc and Doctorate degrees from the London School of Economics (LSE). He was formerly the Philippines Country Director of International Alert UK and the British VSO volunteers. His research interests include violent conflict, insurgencies, shadow economies, and horizontal, identity-based wars and more recently the nexus between climate change and violent conflict. His analysis leverages economic sociology, political economy, and historical institutionalism.

Henelito A. Sevilla, Jr.

Henelito A. Sevilla, Jr., PhD, is a Professor of Middle East Studies and Foreign Relations at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. He served as the Dean of the Center from 2021 to 2024, and is the founding and current president of the Philippine -Middle East Studies Association. He has written extensively and is a resource person for government and non-governmental organizations on Middle East geopolitics, political economy, and society.

Herman Joseph S. Kraft

Herman Kraft is a Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines at Diliman, Quezon City. He was a Convenor of the Strategic Studies Program of the Center for Integrative and Development Studies at the University of the Philippines. Among the Philippines leading foreign policy experts, he has given lectures and written on International Relations and International Security, especially issues concerning ASEAN, regional security in Southeast Asia, security sector reform, and intra-state conflict in the Philippines.

Aaron Jed Rabena

Aaron Jed Rabena is Assistant Professor at the Asian Center in the University of the Philippines. He was a Visiting Fellow in various centers including the China Institute of International Studies Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and Taiwan Center for Security Studies; he was a Non-Resident Fellow at the Pacific Forum in Hawaii. He obtained his PhD in International Relations from Shandong University. His areas of interest include Strategic Studies, Greater East Asian Geopolitics and Multilateral Politics, Political Risk, and Chinese Politics and Foreign Policy.

Fidel R. Nemenzo

Fidel R. Nemenzo, PhD, is Professor of Mathematics and former Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman. He served the university as Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, and headed the Science and Society Program, the Institute for Small Scale Industries, and the Data Science for Public Policy Program. Earning his MSc and DSc in Mathematics at the Sophia University, he was President of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines and the Southeast Asian Mathematical Society and has held teaching and research posts in Tokyo, Singapore, Munich, Amsterdam, Phnom Penh, and Beijing.

Sidney Christopher Bata

Sidney Christopher Bata, PhD, is the Director of the Chinese Studies Program of Ateneo de Manila University. He is also a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics of the University of the Philippines. He teaches Chinese language and culture. He received his MA in Sociology from Fudan University in Shanghai and his PhD in Administrative Management from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.

Maria Thaemar Camañag Tana

Maria Thaemar Camañag Tana is an Associate Professor in the Japanese Studies Program at the School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University. She previously held a Japan Foundation–Global Japan Studies (JF-GJS) Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. She earned her Ph.D. in Japanese Studies from the National University of Singapore and an M.A. in International Relations from De La Salle University. Her research explores Japan’s foreign policy and its evolving relations with Southeast Asia.

Atty. Milagros Isabel Cristobal

Milagros “Milabel” Cristobal is the Chair of the Kanlungan Center for Migrant Workers and the Corporate Secretary of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID). She also serves as a faculty member at the De La Salle University School of Law (TDSOL-DLSU) and was a former Undersecretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Cleo Calimbahin

Cleo Anne A. Calimbahin, PhD, is a Professor of Political Science at De La Salle University-Manila and a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Philippines Institute. She earned her PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Fulbright Fellow. She co-edited the book, Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients and Competition in Local Elections, which received the 2024 Outstanding Book Award in the Social Sciences from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

Filomeno S. Sta. Ana

Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III is the co-founder and current executive director of Action for Economic Reforms (AER), a research and policy advocacy organization that focuses on macroeconomic and governance reforms. He is involved in other national and regional non-governmental organizations, is a columnist for BusinessWorld, and has authored, co-authored or edited articles and books on issues relating to the economy and development.