Thomas G. Aquino

Thomas G. Aquino is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Research and Communication, a multidisciplinary policy group of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). Until recently, Dr. Aquino was the Senior Undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry and supervised the country's international trade promotion, trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) & the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), as well as bilateral trade talks with the country's major economic trading partners.

He also served as overall lead country negotiator for the Philippines in the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and was country representatives to the High Level Task Force on Asean Economic Integration. For government service, he was conferred the Presidential Service Award (or Lingkod Bayan) for extraordinary contribution of national impact on public interest, security and patrimony and was recipient of the Gawad Mabini Award with the rank of Grand Cross (or Dakilang Kamanong) for distinguished service to the country both at home and abroad by the President of the Republic of the Philippines.