5th Floor, Philippine Heart Center Bldg. East Avenue,
                     Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Profile:

ATTY. EDGARDO B. ABON
Chairman

On September 15, 2010, His Excellency President Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., re-appointed Atty. Edgardo B. Abon effective October 11, 2010 as the Chairman of the Tariff Commission.  His chairmanship started on April 6, 2001 with his appointment by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. 

Chairman Abon is both a chemical engineer and a lawyer, earning his engineering degree at the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1973 and his law degree at the Far Eastern University (FEU).  He was admitted to the Bar in 1990.

Before joining the Commission as a Member-Commissioner in 1996, Chairman Abon was a top official of Unilever Philippines (PRC), Inc., where he held various distinctive positions in production, marketing, sales, and  research and development.  His managerial skill in these fields earned him the headship of the Industrial Marketing Group in 1985.  This business unit was responsible for the business performance of the company’s industrial products in the domestic market and for both industrial and consumer products in the exports market.

Chairman Abon pursued special studies on several select courses, including Industrial Marketing (1982), Strategic Marketing (1985) and Business Management (1991), at the Ashridge Management College in the United Kingdom.

Chairman Abon continues to be an active member of the Philippine delegation in regional and international tariff and trade negotiations/dialogues. He chaired the ASEAN working group that drafted the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) in 2007.  He participates in the NAMA and in Rules negotiations at WTO.  He currently chairs the ASEAN Plus Working Group on Tariff Nomenclature (AP-WGTN) that explores possible ways to harmonize the tariff nomenclature of ASEAN with its FTA partners.

His personal advocacy is the adoption of an effective competition policy and the enactment of a comprehensive competition law in the Philippines.  He is currently the Philippine representative to the ASEAN Expert Group on Competition (AEGC).

He is married and has three (3) children.