Founding Partner
CONGRESSMAN JESULITO A. MANALO is one of the Firm’s founders. Prior to his congressional election, Cong. Manalo practiced in the areas of corporate, business and investment law. He served as corporate secretary and general counsel of various corporate entities engaged in the transport, software development, racing and leisure, construction, farm development and industrial-economic zone business. He was also consistently active in litigation.
Apart from his legal practice, he served in government in various capacities, the more recent of which are being Director and Corporate Secretary of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), and private sector representative of the Road Board of the Philippines.
Cong. Manalo took active roles in several professional and socio-civic groups, such as the Philippine Legal Forum, Philippine Bar Association, and was also a commissioner of Bar Discipline for Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Being an educator himself, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of both the Universities of Iloilo and Pangasinan. He also lectured at the MBA-JD Program of the De La Salle-F.E.U. Institute of Law.
His legal expertise and experience paved the way for Cong. Manalo to form ANGKLA: Ang Partido ng Pilipinong Marino in 2011, which is an organization that seeks to protect seafarers’ rights and to institute relevant reforms in the seafaring industry. In the election year that followed its institution, ANGKLA immediately won a seat in the House of Representatives, making Cong. Manalo, in the history of Congress, the very first representative of the Philippine maritime industry.
In 2016, the ANGKLA Party List won its second bid for a seat in the House of Representatives. Cong. Manalo currently chairs the Congressional Globalization and World Trade Organization Special Committee.
Cong. Manalo graduated among the top graduates of his class in Ateneo De Manila University Law School. He finished his pre-law studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
*Cong. Manalo is currently on leave in view of his congressional election.
Partners
AUGUSTO M. PEREZ, JR. is the head of the Government and Political Affairs Department of the Firm. His practice is concentrated in the areas of taxation, banking, corporate law and special projects. Previously, he served in various capacities in the House of Representatives and the Department of Health and acted as a consultant in the Office of the City Mayor of Muntinlupa. He was also a member of the Board of Editors of the IBP Journal in 2006. Currently, Mr. Perez is the Treasurer of the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines and is a consultant in Congress in the office of Representative Jesulito A. Manalo. He is likewise a member of the Licensing Executive Society.Mr. Perez was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines in 1994 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Santo Tomas in 2002.
MARC ANTHONY B. ANTONIO is the Managing Partner and head of the Litigation and Immigration Department of the Firm. He has extensive experience in handling criminal, civil, family, labor, immigration, election and administrative cases. He has also handled controversial and significant cases of national interest before the Sandiganbayan, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. He is also a lecturer in Civil Law and Commercial Law for the CPA Board Exams.
Mr. Antonio graduated from of the University of Sto. Tomas, Faculty of Civil Law in 1997. He was the Class Salutatorian, a University Scholar and the recipient of the Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion for Academic Excellence. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998.
MICHELLE U. PACO is the head of the Corporate and Special Projects Department of the Firm. She has extensive experience in appellate practice, corporate accounts, estate settlement, property acquisitions, land use conversion and policy research in maritime and transportation laws. Prior to joining the Firm, she served as a Court Attorney at the Court of Appeals for several years. She was also an associate in a law firm wherein she was engaged in the general practice of law, specializing in corporation law and regulatory compliance.
Ms. Paco was a Merit Scholar and obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000 and Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines in 2007.
ALFRED JOHN C. PE LIM is a Junior Partner for the Litigation Department of the Firm. He specializes in criminal and civil litigation and special projects. He also handles intellectual property cases and alternative dispute resolution. Prior to joining the Firm, he was a Junior Associate in a Makati-based law firm and was engaged in litigation (trial and appellate practice) and corporate work.
Mr. Pe Lim was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2010. He is a product of the San Beda College of Law in Mendiola, Manila. He also obtained his pre-law degree, AB Philosophy and Human Resource Development, in the same institution where he graduated with Academic Distinction.
JULIANNE S. ALBERTO is a Junior Partner for the Corporate and Special Projects Department of the Firm. Her core practice involves agrarian reform and transportation laws, Public-Private Partnerships, Government Procurement Laws and policy research and formulation. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a State Counsel with the Department of Justice. She was also an associate in a leading law firm in Taguig City where she handled civil, criminal and administrative cases, litigating before the regional trial courts, Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.
Ms. Alberto earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication in 2009 and her Juris Doctor degree in 2013 from the Ateneo de Manila University where she graduated in the top 10 of her class and received the Roberto Gana Service Award. She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2014.