Email Former Undersecretary Third Bagro joined the US-ASEAN Business council in June 2023 as the Philippines’ Country Representative.
For thirteen years, he served as public sector manager and legal counsel to members of Cabinet and Senators across four
administrations.
He started out as a legal assistant to the labor relations commission while taking up law, and after graduating, as staff to former Senator Mar Roxas in 2010. After ranking 8th in the 2009 bar examinations, he joined the government, first as Director, then as Undersecretary and Deputy Head of the Presidential Management Staff, during the term of late President Benigno S. Aquino III. In 2016, he crossed over to the legislative branch and served as chief-of-staff to three-term Senator Francis N. Pangilinan, who headed successively the Senate committees on agriculture and constitutional amendments. In 2022, he was appointed Undersecretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, serving as chief legal counsel to Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual.
Realizing the huge potential of technology in democratizing legal access in the country, he co-founded two startups: Twala, a blockchain-powered digital identity and signatures provider and FLO Attorneys-at-Law, a firm offering tech-enabled legal services.
Third is a lecturer on constitutional law at the University of the Philippines (UP), where he graduated with degrees in Philosophy (cum laude) and Juris Doctor. It was also in UP where he understood the transformative potential of public service -- as both student and leader. In 2008, he was elected student council Chairman, during the University’s 100th year.
He pursued public administration in academia and earned an MPA from the Maxwell School in Syracuse University, New York as a Fulbright scholar.
Third Bagro
Last updated: 31 July 2023