Meet the Team

Raphael Pangalangan

Executive Committee

Executive Director

Raphael is a Human Rights Lawyer from the Philippines, having practiced Criminal Law with the Office of the Ombudsman and taught Philosophy at the University of the Philippines. He finished his studies with honors at the University of the Philippines, American University, and the University of Oxford on merit-based scholarships, holds the Oxford-Bonavero Human Rights Law Student Fellowship, and is completing his LL.M. with the University of Cambridge.

Gabriel Pangalangan

JOLT Philippines

CEO

Gab co-founded JOLT.PH with one goal: To spark positive change in the Philippines, starting with Just One Little Thing. With a passion for empowering others, he’s launched a number of advocacies and campaigns, including STAND, an anti-bullying program offered in schools around Metro Manila. Additionally, he initiated STAND for Women, which garnered the JCI Manila award for Best Outreach Program for teaching self-protection to women in Tondo, Manila. An alumnus of the University of the Philippines - Diliman, he also launched the Fight Like A Girl campaign under his start-up, Dojo Drifter Media. The current Marketing Manager of UFC GYM Philippines, Gab is a father, a writer, and a digital marketer.

Anton Miguel Sison

Executive Committee

Program Director

Anton is a Juris Doctor candidate (June 2020, expected) from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law. He currently works as a research assistant in the UP Law Center Institute of Human Rights. He served as an editor for the Philippine Law Journal and participated in three moot court competitions (Jessup 2020, Asia Cup 2019, ICC Moot 2018). He has a degree in B.A. Philippine Studies, cum laude, with a minor in both Journalism and Malikhaing Pagsulat (Creative Writing in Filipino).

Cholo Puno

Operations Committee

Committee Chair

Cholo is a student from the University of The Philippines Diliman. He is currently an ambassador of the World Literacy Foundation and Chair of the Operations Committee of the VolunTeaching Initiative. He founded Growth CMS, a creative marketing agency based in the Philippines. He is a creative worker who specializes in business management and social media marketing. He has a passion for sustainable development and humanitarian service.

Paolo Sevilla

Executive Committee

Secretary

Paolo is the Executive Secretary of VolunTeach.PH. He is a graduate of the Anthropology program of the University of the Philippines, Diliman. In the past, his research focused on social movements in the Philippines, as well as other topics such as dental anthropology, and folk medicine. He is presently writing on democratic institutions and human rights in southeast Asia. With any luck, he won't end up as an example of a human rights victim in someone else's paper.

Isabel Guidote

Legal Team

Head

Isabel received her law degree from the University of the Philippines in 2016. She was admitted to the Bar the following year and worked for one of the country’s foremost law firms. In 2018 she left private practice to join the Philippine Competition Commission, the national antitrust body. Isabel is currently working towards her M.A. in Economics for Competition Law with King’s College London.

Gemmo Fernandez

Legal Team

Consultant

Gemmo Bautista Fernandez is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University undertaking research on the implementation of collective norms in international law.
Prior to commencing his postgraduate studies, he worked as an associate in one of the leading law firms in Philippines in the fields of technology, e-commerce, and cyberspace law. His work included, among others, negotiating technology contracts, undertaking data privacy compliance, and litigating cybercrime cases.

Ross Tugade

Legal Team

Consultant

Ross is a member of the Philippine Bar. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law. Previously, she graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree, cum laude. She is currently a Master of Laws student with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute in Turin, Italy.

Teo Tolentino

Recruitment

Head

Teo is a Business Economics undergraduate student from the University of the Philippines. Teo wants to pursue a career in entrepreneurship focusing in agriculture industry with the goal of creating livelihood for small communities in the country. He is dedicated and passionate to become an instrument of help to those in need.

Chelsea Monasterio

Social Media

Head

Chelsea is the Content Strategist of Volunteaching Philippines. She is currently a Juris Doctor candidate from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law, having taken up her undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Science in Legal Management with a Minor in International Business in Ateneo de Manila University in 2019.

Bea Pelayo

Social Media

Creatives Head

Bea is the Creatives Head who is currently a senior taking up a degree in Media and Entertainment Management from the University of Asia and the Pacific. Throughout her years in college, she has grown a fascination with the relationship between storytelling and design. That fascination ignited a passion in her to foster the connection of stories and art in the hopes that people will have a deep appreciation of the stories being told.

Patricia Gray

Social Media

Creatives Head

With a degree in BFA Visual Communication, she is currently a young art director in the advertising industry. As a passionate advertising person, Patricia loves brainstorming, collaborating, and meeting new people.

Raegan Gavino

Social Media

Creatives Officer

Raegan is currently a creatives officer for VolunTeaching.PH. She works with a team in order to provide designs and publications. She graduated cum laude from Ateneo de Manila University where she took up Interdisciplinary Studies and where she was a swimmer for 5 years. She is passionate about working in education and design and hopes to continue on this path in the future.

Carlo Calma

Social Media

Creatives Officer

Carlo is the Creatives Officer of VolunTeaching Philippines. A graduate of UP Diliman, he is currently residing in San Jose, California where he works as a Hardware Engineer, and is also taking up MS Electrical Engineering at San Jose State University. Having worked with a diverse of teams, he has a knack of sharing ideas that would make any project cooler.

Maui Alvarez

Social Media

Content Strategist

Maui is the Content Strategist of VolunTeaching Philippines. A fresh graduate of De La Salle University’s Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship program, she has worked in the past as a Marketing Manager for her business, PENTA. She is committed, dedicated, and passionate to turn problems into long-term solutions.

Ryan Ibay

Developer Team

Head

Ryan is an undergraduate student taking up Computer Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman. As the Head of the Development Team for VolunTeaching.PH, he oversees the technical operations for the online platform. Passionate about education, Ryan has helped organize a free entrance exam review program, and is also an ESL Teacher for Japanese learners.

Rafa Partosa

Developer Team

Web Designer

Rafa is an undergraduate student from UP Diliman currently taking up BS Computer Science. He is fascinated by automation and its capabilities in the modern world, and is passionate about its promotion in the field of education.

Bryan Santamaria

Academics Committee

Head

Bryan is a student at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law. A graduate of UP Diliman's BA Philosophy program, he has worked in the past as a tutor of logic and other philosophy subjects. He has also participated in free college admission test review programs both as the head of the organizing committee and as an instructor for reading comprehension and abstract reasoning. His main research interests are logic, epistemology, law and morality, literary criticism, and human rights.

Najja Hao

Academics Committee

Consultant

Najja earned her M.Sc. in Climate Change Science and Policy from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) through the Chevening Scholarships Programme 2016-2017. She had taught as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography of the University of the Philippines, from where she received her B.S. degree in Geography. She has comprehensive research experience in both the not-for-profit and government sectors, working on disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainability efforts.

Martin Belmonte

Partnerships Committee

Member

Martin is currently a student in the School of Economics in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He has participated in the organization of free college admission test review programs as an instructor for mathematics. He believes that education is an indispensable building block for the future.

Anthony Tayao

Partnerships Committee

Member

Anthony is a student at the University of the Philippines, currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Economics. He stands for empowering the youth through education for the country's prosperity. He has headed a charity event for children and participated in weekly educational sessions for urban poor youth.

Yeshua Cano

Partnerships Committee

Member

Yeshua is currently taking up Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in the University of the Philippines. He believes that education should be both free and liberating. He has organized and instructed in free college entrance test review programs, teaching language proficiency, reading comprehension and abstract reasoning.