Ann Bajo

I was previously a Division Chief at the Social Healing and Peacebuilding Department of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU). My primary role was to plan and implement Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) and peacebuilding programs for vulnerable sectors in conflict-affected areas.

Prior to OPAPRU, I was a Senior Defense Analyst at the Office for Strategic Studies and Strategy Management, Armed Forces of the Philippines. I have written several published works including, Challenges to Military Operations in Urban Terrain in the Philippines; China's Military Militia and the Philippine's Counterstrategy and the AFP Joint Special Operations Doctrine.

Apart from my research work, I was also involved in the strategic planning initiatives of the AFP, which include the formulation of the AFP Joint Force Operating Concept; the AFP Long-Term Strategic Assessment and the AFP's internal security campaign called Development Support Security Plan "Kapayapaan."

I participated in the Command Post Exercises for US-PHIL BALIKATAN (2017-2018) and the Network of ASEAN Defense and Security Institutions.

In 2017, I worked with the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) and was sent to Marawi to document the military operations during the Marawi crisis. In 2019, I was deployed to Maguindanao to conduct a study on the decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and to Sulu to support the Philippine Army with their CVE and counterterrorism efforts. I also with the AFP Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in developing their Joint Special Operations Operating Concept.

I am also the founder of a start-up social enterprise called the Coffee Press Co. that supports communities that are victims of armed conflict by selling locally produced coffee from Sulu, Philippines.

I am currently doing my Ph.D. in Strategy, Marketing and Innovation at University of Portsmouth, UK. I received my M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of the Philippine and B.A. in International Studies from De La Salle University-Manila.