Atty. Ann Claire C. Cabochan

Atty. Ann Claire Credo-Cabochan is the Assistant Secretary for the Consumer Protection Group (CPG), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). As a lawyer herself, she contributes to the policy and regulatory work undertaken by CPG bureaus: Bureau of Philippine Standards; Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau; and, Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau. Assistant Secretary Cabochan continues to build on her experience as Director of the DTI Bureau of International Trade Relations, the position she occupied prior to her promotion, and in which capacity she functioned as ASEAN Senior Official, APEC Senior Official for Trade, and lead Philippine delegate to disputes brought before the World Trade Organization. More particularly, she shepherds various initiatives to help steer the course of Consumer Protection in the ASEAN and APEC regions. A keen advocate of Sustainable Consumption, Assistant Secretary Cabochan actively works for its mainstreaming in various fora.

Also a Certified Public Accountant, Assistant Secretary Cabochan had occasion to lead the DTI Bureau of Philippine Standards and the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board, a DTI attached agency. Before joining DTI, she had stints at the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Borne of her work experience, her fields of specialization include Corporation Law, International Trade Law and Policy, Regional Economic Integration, International Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Regulatory Coherence and Good Regulatory Practices, and Consumer Protection.

Assistant Secretary Cabochan has extensive experience in the academe as full-time Accountancy professor at Silliman University; part-time Law professor at the Lyceum of the Philippines and the Arellano University School of Law; and, part-time College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Business professor at the San Beda University.

She is married to Atty. Jonas L. Cabochan and is a mother of one.