Victor is a Filipino lawyer who is taking his LL.M. (Master of Laws) at the Université Paris II – Panthéon Assas in France. He recently completed his degree in European law and is currently taking a second degree on international arbitration and dispute settlement.
Prior to his graduate studies, Victor worked as an associate in a Manila-based law firm. Before this, he was chief of staff for an undersecretary in the government’s communications office. He also spent some time as an investigator with the government’s corporate and securities regulator and was legislative and political affairs officer for the youth party-list in the House of Representatives.
Victor obtained his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and his Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman where he attended film school.
As a student, Victor was active in student councils, unions, and in civic organizations. He was President of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, and of the Law Student Council of UST. He was also elected Speaker of the UST Central Student Council. Years prior, he was elected Councilor to the University Student Council of UP Diliman, where he was a partisan of a student political party and a member of various student formations and a fraternity. Beyond the halls of the universities he attended, Victor was an activist and was involved in different organizations pursuing various causes and campaigns from movements to oust corrupt Presidents, to holding inept politicians accountable for corruption and illegal disbursement of public funds.
Whenever there is an opportunity, Victor loves to travel. Aside from overseas and domestic trips with his family, he is an avid backpacker and loves embarking on multi-week journeys, often on his own. He has been to most provinces of the Philippines and hopes to set foot on all the rest in a few years. He has traveled a month crisscrossing the north of India from the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi to the deserts of Rajasthan. On separate occasions, he has spent weeks backpacking Sri Lanka, Taiwan and most countries of Southeast Asia. His studies in France has allowed him a few opportunities to visit other countries in Europe.
One day he hopes to be able to undertake continental journeys across South America and Africa, ala-Che Guevara.
Today, he still fancies the dream of just pursuing his passion for travel and go on a voyage around the world to capture photographs, write stories and make compelling documentaries that inspire people to embrace our common humanity and to fight for a more equitable and sustainable future for everyone.
According to the Myers-Briggs personality test, Victor is an INFJ (often labeled as the “Advocate”). True enough, Victor is often described by friends and colleagues as idealistic and creative, reserved and soft-spoken but expressive and passionate, sensitive to how people feel, always interested in helping others and making the world a better place, sometimes to a fault.
Victor speaks Tagalog, his native tongue, English, and conversational French. He used to play the violin.
Last updated: 21 July 2020
