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Click on each team heading to meet APFTI's friendly and capable staff. APFTI is governed by a Board of Trustees, comprised of experienced industry leaders.
 | Gabriel Ma J. Lopez - Chairperson
Gabby has been a member of the Board since 1998. He is a licenced Philippine Environmental (Regional-Urban) Planner, a Human Resources & Organisational Development Specialist, and an Educator-Servant. He is currently teaching at Ateneo de Manila University - a premier educational institute run by the Jesuits. | | Josefina Soriano - Vice Chairperson
Josie joined the APFTI board in 1997. She was the then Executive Director of the biggest and oldest fair trading organisation in the Philippines, SAFFY Handicrafts. For ten (10) years, she competently managed both alternative business and social service programs in-house and in selected communities in various parts of the country. Well recognised in the fair trading network, both locally and internationally, she had participated in international fairs, conferences, and seminars to promote business and advocate fair trade. She is an accredited representative to the International Fair Trade Association. She retired recently from her NGO duties to manage her own small business.
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| Vicente Roaring - Treasurer & APFTI Executive Director Vic also joined the APFTI board in 1997. He is multidisciplinary development advisor servicing the fields of renewable energy, SME development, rural development, informal sector, agrarian reform, cooperatives, and various development projects. He has a comprehensive working knowledge of all phases of business operation gained from 30 plus years of professional experience in enterprise development, investment and merchant banking, financial planning and control, project feasibility study, project evaluation, management consulting and international trading. He has worked under different projfects supported/implemented by multilateral agencies like the World Bank, ADB, ILO, JICA, Dept of Energy and DTI. An economist by training, Vic is practicing industrial engineer. He is currently the Managing Director of the Resource Group, Inc., a development consulting organisation. | | | Antonieta Ocampo - Secretary
After completing a business course, Nette worked as an Assistant General Manager of an interior design firm in Hong Kong before she was recruited by Traidcraft Exchange and MASAI (Management Advancement Systems Assistance, Inc) to implement the Philippine Fair Trade Program in 1995. She was APFTI's Program Director then Executive Director until her retirement in 2006. She was convinced to stay with APFTI as a member of the Board of Trustees since then. | 
| Claribel B. David - Trustee
Claribel was part of the original Board formed in 1997. She came from the banking sector with wide experience in the management of a bank's overall liquidity position, actual funds investment, development and implementation of various financial services to high net worth individual, institutional and corporate accounts; and operations audit of bank branches. She is a recipient of the Harvard Business School Association of the Philippines Scholarship and earned her Masters Degree in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management. She is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society. She is the Convenor of the Asia Fair Trade Forum and currently sits as Vice-Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). |  | Danilo Ocampo - Trustee & Program Director of FAME (Farmers Accelerated Market Empowerment)
Danny joined the APFTI board in 2003 after his stint as its Executive Director from 1999 to 2003. He has a Masters Degree in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management. He has extensive consulting experience with different development organisations and currently holds the Program Manager position with the Catholic Relief Services. | 
| Rommel G. Agustin - Trustee
Rommel was part of APFTI's Board since 1997 while still a senior official of the Department of Trade and Industry. He is well versed on local and export marketing, government policies and programs on trade. He took over the role of Executive Director of the organisation when Nette Ocampo retired in 2006. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines. |
The Enterprise Development Unit delivers services such as trainings, technical assistance (product design and development) and trade facilitation (trade fairs, buyer matching, local study mission, etc).
Meet the team members: | | | Jennifer Garana - Marketing / Trade Facilitations Officer Jenny is responsible for the marketing side of APFTI and facilitating market access and opportunities for fair trade producers. As such Jenny is responsible for conceptualisation and execution of trade fair participation, matching producers to buyers and facilitating local trade missions. Jenny enjoys travelling and meeting new people, as well as spending quality time with her young daughter and family. |  | Ramon Pabillon - Designer / Research and Development / Technical Officer Ramon is responsible for designing new craft products for APFTI's partner producers. He also researches ways to innovatively incorporate natural resources into beautiful craft designs. Further to product design, he also creates booth designs for fair trade exhibits. Ramon came to APFTI in 2003 with a strong design and education background across the region. In his spare time, Ramon creates his own jewellery lines, designs clothes for friends or interested clients, updates his multiply account, and is busy creating his own design book for the global market. |  | Rafael Ramos - Graphic Designer / Technical Assistant Rafael was involved with APFTI even before becoming a staff member, having completed his college on-the-job requirement here. After graduation, Rafael returned to APFTI as a full-time artist responsible for developing packaging and labelling designs, as well as marketing collaterals for both APFTI and partner SMEs. Rafael enjoys travelling, likes good ideas, helping people, making new friends and learning while having fun. |
The Advocacy Unit endeavors to widen the circle of fair trade advocates and practitioners in the country by engaging in various awareness campaigns and networking activities.
Meet the members: | | | Ester Gamboa - Advocacy and Fair Trade Promotions Manager
Ester is responsible for planning and coordinating activities on Fair Trade, facilitating and conducting forums, colloquia, orientations etc about Fair Trade. Ester is a business management graduate.
Ester subscribes to the Bible teaching that says "Hate what is bad, and love what is good, and give justice a place at the gate." (Amos, 5:15) |
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Cherie McCosker - Communications Officer
Cherie is a long-term volunteer with APFTI, coming from Australia's VDA program. As well as generally assisting with APFTI's advocacy, Cherie assists in the communications and information aspect of APFTI's operations. Cherie comes from an NGO management and IT/business consulting background.
Cherie enjoys the outdoors, especially mountain biking. She tries to live and ethical/green lifestyle and enjoys promoting environmental education and responsible tourism.
|  | Kurt Dale Tordesillas - Advocacy Assistant
Kurt graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor's degree in Communication Arts. Coming off a corporate stint as a marketing communications specialist, he is now putting his efforts towards raising social awareness on Fair Trade by assisting in campaign activities.
Kurt is very much into sports, loves traveling, and relishes quality time with family and friends. |
Area coordinators based in the regions maintain APFTI presence and take care of communications and partner relations. They assist APFTI officers and the design team in delivering services to clients.
Meet our area coordinators:  | Raelita E. Legaspi - Area Coordinator for Northern Mindanao Rae Legaspi handles AMACE and MaDe4FT activities for APFTI in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Malaybalay, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon. She networks with partners, conducts various training workshops for clients and does individual coaching & business consulting. Rae has a finance, human resource management and small enterprise promotion and industrial assistance background. |  |
Jyon Hontanosas - Area Coordinator for Southern Mindanao
Jyon holds an MBA degree, an Organization & Enterprise Development Consultant, a licenced CEFE trainer, Accredited Fair Trade Coach, trained in Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Strategy Formulation in development. Assigned to manage, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the project and establish & coordinate good working collaboration among partners/stakeholders in Southern Mindanao. Proverbs 5:2 "that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge". |  | Fernando S. Pitong - Area Coordinator for Panay
Fernando or "Fernan", is responsible for the coordination of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and the relationship with partners/beneficiaries of the MaDe for Fair Trade project in Panay. As coordinator, Fernan liaises with other units within APFTI for successful project implementation; as well as developing partnerships and good relationships with various partner organisations on the ground. Fernan's personal interests include green and ethical living - including researching renewable energy development research; advocating organic farming - which also includes eating this delicious and healthy food, and also advocating alternative herbal medicine. Fernan also promotes volunteer service abroad to 'share skills and change lives'. |  | Gemma Malapo - Area Coordinator for Bikol As area coordinator, Gemma is responsible for the on-the-ground aspects of APFTI's initiatives to ensure they best serve the communities. With a finance background as an accountant and financial/operational auditor, Gemma gets much satisfaction from mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and students. She also enjoys working in her apostolate involvement in socialised learning for the economically poor particularly Bicolanos. When Gemma is not advocating for social entrepreneurship, she is usually meeting with housing advocates or Inkman Franchises, or promoting natural and herbal healing. |
APFTIs internal and project accounting is managed by our dedicated finance team.
 | Emma Mancera - Accountant Emma is responsible for APFTI's accounting and book-keeping functions, as well as preparing monthly, quarterly, annual reports and financial statements for donors and partners. In her spare time, Emma enjoys spending time with her family. |
 | Edgardo A. Perez - Filipinas Fair Trade Ventures (FFTV) Marketing Director Ed is the Marketing Director for FFTV, APFTI's trading arm. With a background in BS Agribusiness from UP Los Banos, Ed oversees the operations of FFTV. Ed also helps the producers/partners of APFTI to directly market their products (handicrafts and food) internationally. Ed has been with APFTI/FFTV since its conception in 1994. |  | Nolan Getalado - Production Development Officer As Production Development Officer, Nolan is responsible for all things production related - from sourcing producers to assisting them in production processes, techniques and scheduling. Nolan comes to FFTV with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from MIT and has spent 3 years as an APFTI-1029 designer. Nolan's personal interests include playing badminton, airsoft guns and scale (robot) modelling. |
APFTI is Secretariat of the World Fair Trade Organization - Philippines and currently employs the Country Manager.
 | Ronald Lagazo - WFTO-Philippines Country Manager
Ronald currently holds concurrent positions as the Cebu Area Coordinator and Country Manager for the World Fair Trade Organisation - Asia.
As an accredited Social Accountability (SA) 8000 and Fair Trade Auditor, he takes a lead role in the current initiative to develop a Philippine Fair Trade Certification System, and in advising companies on how they could align their business practices to the standards of fair trade to achieve better social and environmental impact. |
| Socrates Apollo P. Botictic - Store Operations Manager/National Distribution System Prior to joining APFTI, Soc was a Store Operations Manager in a large children's department store in Kuwait City overseeing all aspects of shop function. His other notable achievements were General Manager with a Philippine construction conglomerate, and Vice President for Business Development of an outsourcing firm. Previously, Soc devoted 14 years with the Department of Energy's Non Conventional Energy Division and Department of Trade and Industry's Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions. He is an expert in renewable energy technologies and experienced in project management and planning. In his spare time, Soc enjoys travelling and meeting different kinds of people. An avid sportsperson, Soc enjoys golf, competitive table tennis, swimming and quiet moments in the mountains. |
Responsible for coordinating office activities, meeting IT and computer requirements and ensuring the smooth operating of APFTI’s office.  | Jeng Vitacion - Administrative Assistant Jessie D. Vitacion or "Jeng" to his friends has long been serving the marginalised sector with more than 10 years experience in the development sector. Prior to APFTI, Jeng worked with the Philippine Peasant Institute, Inc. and Philippine Network of Rurual Development Institutes, Inc. Currently Jeng is assigned with the administrative unit, predominantly taking care of the technology side of operations. Jeng is an avid cyclist, and spends as much time as possible hitting the trails, otherwise, he's spending quality time with his family.
|  | Marlyn Quarez - Administrative Assistant
As one of APFTI's admin assistants, Marlyn is responsible for the petty cash and financial aspects of operations. She also ensures the cleanliness and orderliness of the work areas. In her spare time, Marlyn enjoys cooking for her family. |  | Jun Banal - Driver/Messenger Jun is the company driver for staff official trips, and ensures the vehicle is registered and in good working condition. Jun also delivers goods and documents to clients, board members, buyers and other business support organizations. In his spare time, Jun enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter. |
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