CHESTER B. CABALZA

Founder and President of International Development and Security Cooperation think tank and Professor at the University of the Philippines, Diliman

Prof. Dr. Chester B. Cabalza is the Founder and President of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) and teaches in the graduate school at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He advises national leaders, multinational companies, and embassies on defense and security issues. He previously held the position of Vice President for the Center of Research and Strategic Studies while he concurrently became the Executive Fellow at the Development Academy of the Philippines. He was formerly a Consultant of the World Bank and the Japan International and Cooperation Agency. He is conferred as Scientist by the Department of Science and Technology under the Presidential Decree 997. He was a recipient of the CHED Faculty Development Scholarship and the Angara Scholarship Awards in UP Diliman; and SEASREP by the Japan Foundation. As an Environmental Reviewer of the Department of Environment and National Resources, he has reviewed big ticket projects under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ and now ‘Build Better More’ programs including railways, subways, mining projects, mega dams, expressways, and bridges. He is also a Course Director and thesis adviser of senior military and police officers at the National Defense College of the Philippines, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Command and General Staff College, and the Philippine Public Safety College. A Fellow of the College of Defense Studies at National Defense University in Beijing, China and the US State Department under the stewardship of the University of Delaware. He has published a hundred in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and opinion-editorial in the purview of security studies. He recently authored ‘Philippine Territorial Defense’ (2024) and co-authored ‘The Rise of Philippinedization: Philippinedization is not Finlandization’ (2021). Cabalza won the IFSSO international prize for the Social Science Award and the Humanitarian Award from the Rotary Club. He is regularly interviewed by foreign and local media on the South China Sea, regional terrorism, national defense and security, and related international political economy issues.