BARBARA MAE PAGDILAO-FLORES

Barbara Mae Pagdilao-Flores is the Deputy Regional Prosecutor of the Regional Prosecution Office XI of the Philippines Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service. She is also the Chief of Operations of the Region XI Anti-Trafficking in Persons Task Force of the Philippines DOJ Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.  She is one of the three fellows for the 2022-2023 The Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program who will be going to the United States for 10 months to pursue non-degree academic study and related professional experiences.

She finished her Juris Doctor degree with the Ateneo de Davao University-College of Law and her Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Legal Management at the De La Salle University. She has been a prosecutor for almost 15 years now, an anti-trafficking advocate since 2010, and has recently joined the faculty of the University of Southeastern Philippines-School of Law - teaching Criminal Law and Evidence.

As an anti-trafficking advocate, she creates and participates in the refinement of anti-TIP laws and policies, leads case build-up investigations and prosecution of human trafficking cases, and designs trainings for prosecutors, law enforcers, and other stakeholders.

At the start of lockdowns brought about by the Covid19 pandemic in 2020, Prosecutor Flores, and her colleagues conceptualized, initiated, and implemented an online training module for prosecutors and law enforcers to combat online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC).  As the Course Manager of the project, she led the team in partnering with the USDOJ-Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training and with the Australian Federal Police to roll-out the project to four (4) different regions in the country. It is the team’s goal to bring the training to as many regions as possible within the next two (2) years.

During her fellowship period, Prosecutor Flores aims to gain a wider perspective on her chosen field, form linkages, and share knowledge and experiences with other Humphrey fellows and with her American counterparts who are likewise working towards eradicating human trafficking.  Upon her return to the Philippines, she intends to exponentially multiply in her home country the knowledge and skills acquired and the network established by integrating relevant learning in her trainings and by presenting gathered inventive polices in policy-making fora, 

Outside her professional work environment, Prosecutor Flores enjoys traveling and reading. She is married to a fellow lawyer and public servant and is a mother to two beautiful daughters and one cute Shi Tzu dog.