CANDELARIA, Sedfrey M.

Status: 
Full Time
Email: 
scandelaria@ateneo.edu
Contact No.: 
+63 (02) 899-4373
Fax: +63 (02) 729-6609
Biography: 
Professor Sedfrey M. Candelaria served two terms as Dean of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law (2010 – May 2018). He joined the law faculty in 1990 and has been teaching Constitutional Law, Public International Law, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, Children’s Rights, and International Economic Law.
 
Dean Candelaria also heads the Research, Publications and Linkages Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA). He is a member of the PHILJA Corps of Professors and chairs its Department of Special Areas of Concern. He lectures on various legal topics at the Academy’s training programs for the magistrates, judges and court personnel, and speaks at legal forums conducted by the private sector.

He was a holder of the 2015 Metrobank Foundation Professorial Chair in Law and Economics. A Fellow of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI) in Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, the Dean has also authored several articles on constitutional law, law and economic development, judicial education, peace process, human rights, and international law. He has edited and conducted researches for UNICEF, ILO, UNHCR, UNDP and APEC Study Center.
 
Dean Candelaria was actively involved in some celebrated test case litigation before the Supreme Court notably the Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor, Davide Impeachment, IPRA and the GRP-MILF MOA-AD
 

Areas of Specialization: 
  • Childrens' Rights
  • Indigenous Peoples and the Law
  • International Economic Law
  • Political Law
  • Public International Law
Professional Association & Recognition: 

 

  • 2016, Secretary-General, Executive Committee ; 2012–present, Chair, Faculty Development Committee, Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS)
  • 2014–present, Chair, Sub-Committee on the PHILJA Curriculum Review
  • 2012–present,  Member, Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Governing Board
  • 2012–present, Dean, Ateneo de Manila University School of Law
  • 2010–present, Member, PHILJA Training Center Executive Committee (PTC ExeCom)    
  • 2005–2009, Member, Supreme Court Committee on the Manual on Decision Writing for Judges, that developed and published the book Fundamentals of Decision Writing for Judges in 2009.
  • 2008–2009, Chief Legal Consultant, Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Negotiating Panel for the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
  • 2004–2010, Member, Negotiating Panel for Peace Talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New Peoples’ Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP/NPA/NDF).
  • 2003–present, Chair, Department of Special Areas of Concern, Academic Council, PHILJA
  • 2002–present, Head, Research, Publications and Linkages Office (RPLO), PHILJA,  which carries out the Academy’s (PHILJA), approved research undertakings, executes related studies, and publishes research outcomes and other reference materials primarily for distribution to more than two thousand judges in the lower courts all over the country.
  • 2002–present, Founder and Senior Lawyer, Ateneo Human Rights Center-KATUTUBO, a legal desk on indigenous peoples' concerns which he founded in 2002.   Over the years, he was directly involved in work to help improve the lives of our minorities, reaching them through dirt roads and dangerous mountain paths. He conducted paralegal training programs for indigenous communities in Mindanao through the support of Assisi Development Foundation under Ambassador Howard Dee and Mr. Benjamin Abadiano.
  • 2000–present, Member, Corps of Professors, Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA)
  • 1990–2012, Faculty Member, Ateneo Law School, he handled its Juris Doctor Thesis Program for around four years and taught Street Law as an elective course. He also taught a wide range of legal courses from Constitutional Law, Public International Law, International Economic Law, Children’s Rights Law, Refugee Law and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights.
  • 1990, Research Director, Ateneo Human Rights Center, Ateneo Law School
  • 1989–1990, Counsel, International Finance Group, Department of Finance

 

Courses Taught: 
  • Constitutional Law (I & II)
  • International Economic Law I
  • Political Law Review
  • Public International Law
  • The Judicial Mind
Education: 
Fellow, Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2000); Master of Laws, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada (1990); Bachelor of Laws, Ateneo de Manila University School of Law (1984); Bachelor of Arts, Major in Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University (1980)