Juris Doctor, Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, Philippines.

ATTY. CAMILO MIGUEL M. MONTESA teaches philosophy, election and administrative law at the Ateneo Law School in Manila. He is a well-known figure in the Philippines peace process involving major insurgencies in the country. He was the head of the Peacemaking and Peacekeeping Group in the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) from August 2008 to June 2010, supervising the Government’s efforts on peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Southern Philippines and the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA/NDF). As chairman of the Philippine Government Panel in the tripartite implementation review of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), he negotiated and signed in behalf of the Philippine Government several implementation agreements with the MNLF. He was also chief negotiator in the negotiations with the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa – Mindanao (RPM-M), a breakaway Maoist/Communist rebel group based in Mindanao; chief operations officer of the Joint Task Force on Health, Education, Livelihood, Progress, a task force created by the government to provide a platform for the “whole of government” approach to justice, security, governance, development and the delivery of social services in the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. He also served as executive director of the Institute for Autonomy & Governance (November 2007 – August 2008) and assistant secretary for legal and special concerns of the Department of Education (April 2003 – August 2006).