The CIO Forum, Inc. and the CIOF Foundation, Inc. conducted the 2025 1st CIOF General Membership Meeting and Conference (GMMC1). The GMMC1 was held on March 28, 2025, Friday, at 9:00 AM-5:00 PM, at Ibis Styles, Gen. Roxas Avenue, Araneta City, Cubao, Quezon City.
The theme, “Harnessing Digital Solutions for Effective Public Governance,” brings together key government and industry leaders in plenary and panel discussions, to explore regulatory compliance, frameworks, strategies, efforts and challenges, to advance digital transformation, data privacy, data governance, and technology innovations.
2025 1st CIOF-CIOFF GMMC Program
Speakers
Paul Joseph V. Mercado
Undersecretary for Special Concern
Department of Information and Communications Technology
Undersecretary Mercado was named Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on March 10, 2025, by the Office of the President. His appointment followed the resignation of former Secretary Ivan John Uy, who stepped down for undisclosed reasons. Mercado, who previously served as Undersecretary at the DICT, was chosen to ensure continuity in the department’s operations and ongoing programs,
In 2014, Mercado served as Executive Assistant V at the Governance Commission for GOCCs until 2016. He then became an Associate Lawyer at Esguerra De Jesus Dy & Chico Law Offices (EJDC) Law Office. In 2018, he was appointed Director II and Chief Legal Officer at the Office of the Speaker, where he worked under Speakers Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Lord Allan Velasco until 2022.
David L. Almirol, Jr.
Undersecretary for eGovernment
Department of Information and Communications Technology
David L. Almirol, Jr. is the Undersecretary for E- Government of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. He is a 2021 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee for Science, Engineering, and Technology. He was also named as the Filipino Technology Icon of the Year by Asia Pacific Luminaire Awards and earned dozens of other honors both locally and regionally in the fields of information technology.
He is a computer science graduate – a systems analyst and full-stack programmer. He has over 15 years of solid system development and integration experience. He single-handedly coded and developed dozens of software and systems that is being used now
by millions of Filipinos. A champion of e-government platforms and ease-of-doing- business solutions.
Dondi D. Mapa
Former Deputy Commissioner
National Privacy Commission
Dondi is an accomplished business leader whose extensive experience spans both the private and public sectors, including start-up environments and complex multi-country matrix organizations. He played a pivotal role in establishing the Philippines’ IT-BPO industry, setting up Accenture’s first offshore development facility in 1986, and later managing Dell International Services’ Mall of Asia site, which housed over 2,000 tech support specialists. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed him to the Commission on ICT in 2004, tasking him with generating one million jobs in the Philippine Cyberservices Corridor. For his contributions to the IT and business process outsourcing sector, Dondi was recognized with the Lifetime Contributor Award from the Asia CEO Awards.
A pioneer in data privacy and information security, Dondi was appointed by President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2016 to start-up the Philippines’ National Privacy Commission. In 2020, he joined Citibank as its Chief Privacy Officer for Asia-Pacific where he mentored compliance teams from 17 countries to achieve adherence to cybersecurity, notification, and data protection laws, along with guidelines on artificial intelligence (AI) usage. For his data protection initiatives, Dondi earned the Exemplary Privacy Leadership Award from the National Privacy Commission of the Philippines, and the Datos Privados Award for Empowerment and Enablement from the National Association of Data Protection Officers of the Philippines
MARK JOSEPH AQUINO
CEO, Experts Academy
With over 20 years of solid work experience in the fast-paced Telecommunications/ IT services based multinational companies. He is the president and CEO of Experts Academy, an industry education provider that aims to bridge the cyber security skills gap in the country. And, the president and CEO of Experts Prime IT Services, a managed service provider of different network and cyber security programs and services.
He is also the Technical Consultant for various Private and Government Companies which includes Department of Education, Transco, Bounty Agro Ventures and many others. In charge of the technical planning and design of network and security infrastructure of the company.
Formerly working at Okada Manila as Sr. Manager for Network Technology, and IP Network Planning Manager at smart communications. He completed his BS Electronics and Communications Engineering degree at Mapua Institute of Technology and his master in entrepreneurship degree at Ateneo de Manila University.
Christopher Yu
Public Sector Director
SAP Southeast Asia
Christopher Yu is a dedicated Industry Architect Advisor within the Public Services sector at SAP, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to his role. With a background rooted in both financial and technological spheres, Christopher is well-equipped to navigate the complexities of the public sector and guide organizations through their digital transformation journeys.
Reynaldo Paragas
Customer Solution Director
SAP Philippines
Rey Paragas is the Business Technology Platform Solution Advisor Manager for SAP Southeast Asia. He leads a team of technology experts who work with SAP customers across SEA to leverage SAP BTP to optimize their business processes and continuously innovate. He has been with SAP for 17 years and has also worked for other IT companies like Fujitsu, Oracle and Microsoft. Rey graduated from UP Diliman with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.
Wendy B. Gurra
Enterprise Technical Specialist
INTEL Philippines
Wendy Butlig Gurra is an Enterprise Technical Specialist at Intel Philippines responsible for advocating Intel based solutions for all focus technology trends like 5G, Network Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, and Intelligent & Autonomous Edge through a vertically oriented, solutions-led approach to Business and IT.
Rene C. Mendoza
Assistant National Statistician
Information Technology and Dissemination Service
Philippine Statistical Authority
Assistant National Statistician Mendoza received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2010 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering in the same university in 2000 as an Oblation Scholar and DOST Scholar. He also graduated from the Philippine Science High School.
Before he joined PSA, ANS Mendoza was the Chief of the Knowledge Management Division in the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) where he spearheaded various research and projects. Aside from his stint in DOST-ASTI, he also served as the Project Leader for the iGovPhils of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Geoportal Project of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, and Computing and Archiving Research Environment (CoARE) of the agency. He was also the former Data Protection Officer of DOST-ASTI.
ANS Mendoza brings in a decade of expertise on IT and cybersecurity in taking the lead for SISS and the three Divisions under the Service: (1) Infrastructure System Management Division, (2) Device Certification and Relying Party Integration Division, and (3) Information and Cybersecurity Division.
Romel C. Selerio
Data Architect
Information Management Group, Technology and Digital Innovation Office
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Romel has been in the IT profession for more than 2 decades engaging in the areas of software development, systems analysis, business analysis, and project management. He spent most of his career in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and led the Enterprise Architecture team in the last 5 years which pioneered the implementation of BSP’s enterprise architecture practice. He now leads the Data Governance team to help realize strategic initiatives to enhance BSP’s data governance and data platforms with the goal of enabling data-driven decision making and advancing digital transformation.
Industry Partners
