The World Fellows

J. R. Nereus O. Acosta | Philippines | 2004

Secretary-General, Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats

After completing three consecutive terms (1998-2007) as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, Neric Acosta returned to academia as a member of the faculties of the Ateneo de Manila School of Government and the Asian Institute of Management in Manila. While in office, he was the principal author of environmental laws on solid waste management, biodiversity, and pollution in the Philippines and served as Chair of the Committee on Ecology and Chair of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Human Development. He is a convener of the Philippine Climate Change Imperative and continues to work actively in the fields of microfinance, the environment, education, and peace-development issues in his native Mindanao, in the southern Philippines. Acosta is currently Secretary-General of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, which works with leading liberal-democratic parties in Asia for greater democratization and the strengthening of human rights. He is set to run for the Philippine Senate in the May 2010 elections under the Liberal Party of the Philippines, of which he is Vice-President.