Dr. Cielito F. Habito, Filipino, 72, was elected as an Independent Director of the Company on April 23, 2024. He is currently a member of the Corporate Governance Committee and Executive Compensation Committee.

Dr. Habito is the former Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority. He is Chairman and Founding Partner of consultancy think tank Brain Trust Inc, and Chairman of Operation Compassion Philippines. He also writes the weekly op-ed column “No Free Lunch” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, now in its 22nd year. He was a Professor of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University from 2001-2024, where he was also Senior Fellow and former Director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development. He is currently an Independent Director of First Philippine Holdings, Sun Life Prosperity Funds, and the Manila Exposition Complex, Inc. He is also a member of the World Bank Civil Society Advisory Group and the Advisory Committee of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He had also worked at the World Bank, Harvard University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies in Kyoto University, and Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo.

Dr. Habito holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Agricultural Economics) (summa cum laude) from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Master of Economics from the University of New England (Australia), and a Ph.D. in Economics and Master of Arts in Economics from Harvard University.