Sectoral Representative for Researchers

Dina Ocampo is a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Education teaching courses in literacy development, difficulties and research. Her work has influenced public policy on education and professional development programs for literacy teachers. She is involved with many government agencies and organizations that advocate for reading and books such as the Department of Education, the Reading Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Dyslexia Foundation, and the Global Reading Network.

Sectoral Representative for Mass Media

Emily Abrera brings to PBBY her years of experience as Creative head and CEO of one of the country’s leading ad agencies. Child literacy, the environment, and Filipino arts and culture have always been among her key advocacies. She believes that nothing primes the imagination like reading does. It is how a child learns to dream of a better world, and later acts to make it happen.

Sectoral Representative for Writers

LUIS P. GATMAITAN is a medical doctor and an award-winning author for children. His work has been translated to Bahasa Indonesia, Nihonggo, Thai, Mandarin, and Danish. His children’s books have been mounted into musical plays, animation, apps, opera, audio-drama, and other theater productions.

Dr. Gatmaitan is the current chair of the National Council for Children’s Television (NCCT) and was the president of Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (KUTING), an organization of writers for children.

Dr. Gatmaitan has received recognition for his literary works from the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA), Manila Critics Circle-National Book Awards, the Gold Anvil Award, the Gawad Mariano Ponce, and the PBBY-Salanga Prize. In 2003, he was a recipient of the The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 2005. And he was conferred the Gawad Dangal ng Wika by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino in 2009. In 2017, he was awarded the UMPIL’s Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, a lifetime achievement award in literary writing.

Sectoral Representative for Educators,
Basic Education Level

Vic Villanueva earned two of his three degrees in education from the University of the Philippines and one from the University of Melbourne.

Teacher Vic is the current president of the Council of Reading Intervention Specialists and has served two terms as the president of the Reading Association of the Philippines. He is one of the few actively-practicing reading specialists in the Philippines.

He is a Middle Years Program Teacher for English and Filipino at The Beacon Academy and is the School Director of The Builders’ School. He is working with Knowledge Channel to develop learning videos for early literacy development and with the Center for Educational Measurements to develop a comprehensive professional development program for teachers on reading comprehension.

Sectoral Representative for Educators, Tertiary Level

Ramón S. Sunico is a bilingual writer with two books of poetry and three books for children, the first of which Two Friends, One World, won the first ever Palanca Award for Children’s Writing. His work has been published in anthologies, textbooks, and periodicals here and abroad. He teaches for several departments at Ateneo de Manila University (Literature, Philosophy, Journalism and the Humanities). He has served as an Alagad ni Balagtas and a national fellow for Poetry. He pioneered the use of bilingual texts in children’s books, was among the first to design books using the computer, and moderated the first listserv, rp-books, on Philippine books and culture. After the fall of Marcos in 1986, as designer and editor, he helped Karina Bolasco conceptualize the Contemporary Philippine Poetry and Contemporary Philippine Prose series. More recently, he conceptualized and helped found the National Children’s Book Awards.

Sectoral Representative for Illustrators

Liza Flores is one of the leading children’s book illustrators in the Philippines. Her books “The Secret is in the Soil” (2012), and “Ang Maliit na Kalabaw” (2021) have been included in the National Children’s Book Award Best Reads for 2012-2013 and 2020-2021. She is member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the Philippines’ first and only organization of illustrators for children. She mentors illustrators from different countries through Room to Read, an international nonprofit organization.

Liza is also a graphic designer. She designed “Karapat Dapat” (2018), which was included in The White Ravens list in 2020.

Sectoral Representative for Librarians

Zarah Gagatiga is a school librarian, author of children’s books, storyteller, and literacy coach. She is the PRO of the Philippine Association of School Librarians (PASLI). Recognized by peers in the school library profession for her contributions to the growth of children’s literature in the country, Zarah is currently developing modules and toolkits on the conduct of online book clubs, bibliotherapy sessions, and the restorative values of stories through storytelling for children and young people.

Sectoral Representative for Storytellers

Rey Bufi or Kuya Rey is a storyteller, inspirational speaker, trainer, and founder of The Storytelling Project (TSP), a non-profit organization that aims to spark hope, inspiration, and imagination through storytelling. He has crossed rivers and mountains to bring TSP’s own brand of happy learning to remote communities. He has given storytelling workshops for more than 5000 volunteers, students, and teachers. He has reached more than 20,000 kids from Camiguin Norte, Babuyan Islands to Patikul, Sulu.

Kuya Rey also founded Basa Bookstore, a social enterprise with the mission to bring Filipino-made books and other resources to remote provinces and emerging cities in the Philippines as well as provide educational services such as storytelling workshops, writing workshops, and writing projects to communities and private organizations alike.

Sectoral Representative for Book Reviewers

KB Meniado fell in love with stories at age six. Today, she is a writer, creator, and editor, with a degree in Journalism and a masters in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

She is the founder of Bookbed (bookbed.org), a Filipino book community that supports readers and creators through reviews and features, reading sessions and writing workshops, and book drives, among others. KB is also Bookkeeper at Bibi Mangki Bookbed (bookbed.org/bibimangki), a Filipino library x bookstore x bed&books where anybody can enjoy fiction and nonfiction by local and foreign authors day and night. Most of her book reviews can be found on Bookbed and via #KBookJo, her personal book journal.