Prof. Jay Batonbacal

Jay L Batongbacal is a lawyer with degrees in Political Science and Law from the University of the Philippines, as well as Master of Marine Management and Doctor in the Science of Law, both from Dalhousie University (Canada). At present, he is a full Professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law and serves as Director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center. He has worked extensively on maritime affairs since 1997, carrying out research, consultancy work, and teaching, with numerous national and international publications to his credit. Dr. Batongbacal was legal advisor to the Philippine delegation that successfully pursued the Philippines’ claim to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Benham Rise Region before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the successful application before the International Maritime Organization for the designation of the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park Particularly Sensitive Sea Area. He has been included among the UNESCO/IOC List of Experts for UNCLOS Annex VIII Special Arbitration on Marine Scientific Research. In 2022, Dr. Batongbacal completed a Taiwan Fellowship Program at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Fellowship at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island, USA. He has since returned to continue teaching basic courses in Obligations & Contracts and Property Law, and is conducting “experimental game-based learning” with two elective courses, The Law of the Sea and Natural Resources Law.