Policy Insights for More Efficient and Adaptive Social Protection in the Philippines

Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr. is an economist interested in applied economic modeling, impact evaluation, education and labor market, social protection, demographic economics, and information and communication technologies. In addition, he has extensive experience in designing, conducting, and teaching impact evaluation of programs and policies in education, social protection, judicial reforms, community-driven development, water services, agriculture, and agriculture finance. He has written papers and served as a consultant to multilateral and bilateral institution in these areas.

As a researcher, Dr. Marife Ballesteros has written and published papers on housing and land policy, agrarian reform, rural finance, MSMEs, and social enterprises. She has also been involved in several impact evaluation studies. She is a member of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Economics and the International Development Evaluation Association.

Assistant Secretary Peñaflor heads the Specialized Programs under the Operations Cluster, a strategic grouping of the flagship social protection programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development that provide investment in human capital through sustainable livelihood, conditional cash transfers, and community-driven development. She is a development professional with over 20 years of experience advocating children’s rights, adolescent health and development, public health, LGBTIQ+ rights, volunteerism, and good governance. Her expertise includes public policy and governance, management and operations, program development, media and advocacy, stakeholder engagement, partnership building, coaching, and mentoring.

Yoonyoung (Yoon) Cho is a Senior Economist at the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. She works on issues related to labor markets and social protection in developing countries including skills, entrepreneurship, migration, and jobs as well as safety nets focusing on the poor and vulnerable. She has extensive experience in development work covering the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. Yoon leads the Bank’s engagement associated with social protection and jobs programs in the Philippines. 

Nassreena Sampaco-Baddiri is Country Director for Innovations for Poverty Action Philippines, and is chief manager of its diverse portfolio of rigorous impact evaluations in social protection, governance, education, and financial inclusion. She works with partners to develop evaluations to address critical knowledge gaps and to advocate for evidence-based policymaking. She has extensive experience working in the government as well as in policy research NGOs and has taught as Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines. She was named one of DevEx Manila’s 40 under 40 International Development Leaders in 2013 and UK Education Ambassador for the Philippines by the British Embassy, Manila in 2015.

Jun Jay is the Executive Director of the Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines (MiMAP, also known as RIMANSI). Jun Jay brings with him more than two decades of work experience in social development. His expertise is in rural development and finance, specifically in the areas of community organizing, microfinance and microinsurance policy, program and business development in the NGO, government and academic sectors. Prior to MiMAP, he headed the Microfinance Unit of the National Anti-Poverty Commission under the Office of the President of the Philippines that implemented microfinance development programs such as financial literacy, consumer protection and performance standards. Since 2017, he has been an Independent Trustee of KCCDMFI, a Microfinance NGO operating in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Southern Philippines.

Michael RM Abrigo is a Senior Fellow at PIDS where he works on population, health and nutrition policy issues. Prior to his return to the Philippines, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Dr. Ronald Mutasa has more than two decades of global health experience, including several years leading World Bank flagship lending programs in health systems strengthening and reform in South Asia, East Asia, and Africa. Ronald has led several World Bank research initiatives on primary healthcare reform; human capital development; co-authored publications on quality of care and demand- and supply-side incentives for health; and is a frequent peer reviewer within and outside of the Bank. Ronald sits on McGill University’s Expert Panel on Private Sector Engagement in LMICs, and the Expert Panel on Private Sector Engagement for Tuberculosis Control on India.