A UNIVERSITY of Asia and the Pacific professor was appointed as part of the 24-member Congressional Research Fellows of the 19th Congress.

Assistant Professor Dr. Robin Michael Garcia will be part of a group of experts from leading educational institutions in the country who will work closely with the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department and a team of senior advisers to provide evidence-based research for policy formulation.

“Dr. Garcia was appointed to the Public Order and Safety cluster of the CRF, together with Professor Herman Kraft, former chairperson of the Political Science Department at the University of the Philippines,” UA&P said.

“They will be working with Senior Adviser Senen Bacani, Bangsamoro Peace Panel Member and former agriculture secretary, and CPBRD team Dominador Gamboa and Byron Bicenio,” it added.

CRF was created under the Academic Research Partnership Program.

It will jointly be spearheaded by the CPBRD and the Ateneo Center for Economic and Research and Development to support the administration’s eight-point socioeconomic agenda and the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 towards achieving the Filipino aspirations of maginhawa, matatag, at panatag na buhay, or the Ambisyon Natin 2040.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s eight-point socioeconomic agenda includes food security, improved transportation, education, social services, sound fiscal management, healthcare, affordable and clean energy, and an efficient bureaucracy.