I am a PhD Candidate in Public Policy at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria.

My research specialises in the politics of trade preferences: how north-to-south market access concessions erect transnational policy spaces where social and economic activities are governed without state-steering. More specifically, my dissertation interrogates how the European Union’s Everything but Arms regime has transformed productive and labour practices in Myanmar’s garment economy. Figuring heavily in my research are the literatures on transnational governance, global production networks, policy translation, and norm localisation. More broadly, my academic interests gravitate towards critical policy analysis, global governance, EU free trade politics, (post)development, just trade, policymaking in postcolonial contexts, and the international relations of Southeast Asia.

At CEU, I served as Prof. Carsten Q. Schneider’s teaching assistant for the Comparative Case Study Research course at the Department of Political Science. I also collaborated within a small research team contributing to the Horizon 2020 RESPECT project (Realising Europe’s Soft Power in External Cooperation and Trade) at the Department of Economics and Business.

Prior to joining CEU, I consulted with a European Commission project supporting the internationalisation of EU small and medium enterprises to the Philippines. I also worked as a policy and advocacy officer at the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and trained to draft legislation at the Philippine Senate.

I pursued International Relations at CEU (with distinction) and majored in European Studies at De La Salle University (magna cum laude).

Some of my writings have appeared in World Trade Review, Polish Political Science Yearbook, Global Politics Review, EURACTIV, and Ideas on Europe.

I speak Bicolano, Tagalog, and some French. I am also learning Spanish and Baybayin. Outside academia, I dabble in oil painting and film photography.