Director University of the Philippines-Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea
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 and chairs the Graduate Studies Program at the University of the Philippines College of Law, while also serving as Director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center and Chair of the LLM Program Committee.
Dr. Batongbacal has worked extensively on maritime affairs since 1997, carrying out research, consultancy work, and teaching, with numerous national and international publications to his credit. He 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 for the designation of the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park Particularly Sensitive Sea Area lodged before the International Maritime Organization. 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 resume teaching undergrad and graduate law courses, and is using “experimental game-based and AI-augmented learning” with two elective courses, The Law of the Sea and Natural Resources Law. His current research interests include the Law of the Sea, Aerospace Law, and the Law of Naval Warfare.