Atty Angelo A Jimenez (Public Policy ’13)

Angelo A. Jimenez is a labour lawyer and a respected authority on global worker migration whose work has contributed to the establishment of the Philippines’ new Department of Migrant Workers, as well as the labour migration regulatory framework in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

A former Deputy Administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Atty Jimenezs broad expertise and experience in the field of migrant worker welfare, which has brought him to different parts of the world. He served as Labor Attaché in Japan, Kuwait, and Iraq, and was awarded citations by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for ensuring the safety of Filipino workers during the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and for the rescue of a Filipino hostage held in Iraq.

While at the Department of Labor and Employment, Atty Jimenez represented the agency on the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council, Governing Board of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and Inter-Agency Media Task Force on Overseas Filipino Workers. At the Office of the President, he represented the Office of the Senior Deputy Executive Secretary in the Presidential Fact-Finding and Policy Advisory Commission on the Protection of Overseas Filipinos — better known as the Gancayco Commission — and the Cabinet Committee on Maritime and Ocean Affairs during the administration of the late President Fidel V. Ramos.

With his extensive background in labour migration, Atty Jimenez has been tapped as an expert lecturer by the UP Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders or International Training Center for Authorities and Leaders Philippines, where he has given lectures on gender-responsive migration governance, ethical recruitment principles, migrant protection, and crisis preparedness. He has also written papers for organisations such as the International Organization for Migration Philippines and the Blas Ople Policy Center, with topics that focus on immigration law and labour recruitment policies, processes, and practices. He is a regular lecturer on Philippine overseas labour laws at the UP Law Center’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education programme.

The global outlook of Atty Jimenez is not just a result of the work he accomplished overseas, but the education he received abroad. Atty Jimenez graduated with a Master in Public Management degree from the National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and was a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow at the Harvard School of Government.

His understanding of the factors that have led to the Filipino diaspora, on the other hand, is the product of his education and experiences in Butuan, Agusan del Norte––where he was born and raised — and in UP Diliman, where he obtained both his Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) degrees. As a law student in UP Diliman, he was an Associate Editor of the Philippine Collegian and President of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. He was also elected Chairperson of the University Student Council and in 1992 was appointed Student Regent to the UP Board of Regents (BOR) by the late President Corazon C. Aquino. He later rejoined the BOR when he was appointed Regent by former President Rodrigo R. Duterte in 2016, during which he also served concurrently as Trustee of the UP Foundation, Inc.

A son of Mindanao, Atty Jimenez believes that the Philippines’ premier state university must be a hub for transformational change, and that engaging communities and helping solve real-world problems should be a part of the UP academic experience. Ultimately, the goal is for UP to become a global university that asks the consequential questions of our time and, acting locally, strives to address the serious issues confronting the country and the world.