Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo

Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo (born February 7, 1991) a Filipino politician, academic, lawyer, diplomat and opinion columnist.

She has been appointed Undersecretary in the Department of Information and Communications Technology since November 2022.

Prior to this, she was Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs of the same department.

Lamentillo was born on February 7, 1991, to Ilonggo parents, Manuel Lamentillo, a native-born Ilonggo of Kinaray-a descent and his Chinese wife, Elnora Yu.

She was a student leader when she was in college at the UPLB.

She was part of the university student council where she supported culture and arts organizations in the university and had advocacies on environment and popular culture.

She is an officer of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) with the rank of Auxiliary Commodore (one-star general), a reservist in the Philippine Army Reserve Force with the rank of First Lieutenant, and an adopted member of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class of 2006, Bagsay Lahi.

She is also a part of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) after completing its VIP Protection Executive Training (VIPPET) in 2023.

She maintains a bi-weekly column in the Op-Ed section of Manila Bulletin and Balita.

She was one of the 2012 The Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) – Calabarzon recognized for their service to their schools and communities despite the demands of higher education.

In 2012, she graduated from UPLB with latin honors and was recipient of the Faculty Medal for Academic Excellence for obtaining the highest General Weighted Average among the graduates of Development Journalism of her batch.

In 2012, she became part of the Senate staff of Senator Loren Legarda as legislative and communications staff before she pursued an opportunity to be part of the United Nations system through the UNDP and FAO.

She joined the UNDP and FAO during its implementation of the Haiyan Emergency Response and Rehabilitation Program.

She immersed in the beneficiary communities of the UN to understand their struggles and how the Agency’s help was able to support their recovery.

Lamentillo documented the stories of Haiyan survivors, such as the story of Margarette Sosing, whose love for football gave her the strength to get back on her feet; and Trinidad Bato-balono, who helped rebuild her family’s home and their hometown of Santa Fe through UNDP’s Cash-for-Work Program.

From 2013-2015, prior to becoming a public servant, she worked as a communications consultant of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) during their Haiyan Emergency Response and Rehabilitation Program.

Lamentillo holds a bachelor’s degree in Development Communications from the University of the Philippines-Los Banos (UPLB) where she graduated cum laude and was given a distinction, the Faculty Medal for Academic Excellence, for obtaining the highest General Weighted Average for Development Journalism Majors of her batch.

She also holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

In 2015, she accepted the offer to be part of then-Las Pinas Representative Mark Villar’s team at the House of Representatives as legislative and communications chief.

She also joined Villar’s team when he was appointed Secretary for DPWH.

Lamentillo served as Chairperson of the Build, Build, Build Committee in the Department of Public Works and Highways.

She ensured that the reforms introduced by the Secretary, including those that were aimed at addressing problems of ghost projects, delays in implementation, and right-of-way (ROW) issues, were implemented.

Among these are the adoption of drone and satellite technology in the monitoring of DPWH projects to eliminate ghost projects through the geotagging system, the Infra-Track App, which plots photos inputted into the system for monitoring in the exact geographic coordinates where they were taken.

Lamentillo was the chairperson of the Build, Build, Build Committee of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the concurrent chairperson of the Infrastructure Cluster Communications Committee from December 19, 2016, to October 8, 2021.

The DPWH completed a total of 29,264 kilometers of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 classrooms, 133 Tatag ng Imprastraktura Para sa Kapayapaan at Seguridad (TIKAS) projects, and 739 COVID-19 facilities under the Build, Build, Build program during the administration of President Duterte, specifically between 2016 and 2021.

Lamentillo credits this to the 6.5 million Filipinos—construction workers, engineers, architects, and government employees—who worked on these projects.

In August 2022, she was taken in by the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Two months later, she was promoted to Undersecretary of the Department.

She handled the Department’s strategic communications and media, international relations and legislative affairs.

She is in charge of public-private partnership, and foreign-assisted projects, and is also the Department’s spokesperson and focal person for presidential and cabinet directives.

In a bid to further digital cooperation with other nations, Lamentillo met with resident ambassadors and foreign dignitaries from Singapore, Japan, China, and US, as well with Spain, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Malaysia, among others.

In February 2023, the Philippines assumed its role as the Chair for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Digital Senior Officials Meeting (ADGSOM) and Digital Ministers Meeting (ADGMIN) and as such, the DICT hosted the Third ADGSOM and ADGMIN held in Boracay Island with Lamentillo as Head of Delegation (HOD) for the Philippines.

In March 2023, she was among the female leaders in government who represented the Philippines at the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, US.

She pursued digital inclusion and gender equality while engaging in discussions with fellow UN member states and other development partners.

In between law school and working at the DPWH, she completed her Executive Education in Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School in 2018.

At present, she is pursuing the Executive MsC in Cities program at the London School of Economics.

Lamentillo rose from the ranks.

She started working as a reporter at the age of 18 while still completing her bachelor’s degree.

As part of GMA-7 News and Public Affairs, she was assigned to cover stories for the entire Region IV-Laguna.

She pursued law as a working student and received her Juris Doctor degree from the UP Diliman College of Law in 2020.