Alfredo E. Pascual

In 2022, then President-elect Bongbong Marcos nominated Pascual as the next Secretary of Trade and Industry, who later assumed the post on June 30, 2022 following the Inauguration of Bongbong Marcos as President.

Pascual created over 800 One-U.P. Professorial Chairs and Faculty Grants in 2015. That was the first time ever in U.P. for such a big number was made available in one go – overcoming the very limited supply of donated professorial chairs. These are annual grants awarded for three years, renewable based on performance. The objective is to recognize more deserving faculty members for excellence in research, teaching, and public service.

Recognizing the role of the arts and humanities in developing a sense of national identity and unity among Filipinos, Pascual implemented the Cultural Infrastructure Development Program (CIDP) in 2014 with government funding of close to ₱400 million. CIDP provided the funding for the rehabilitation and upgrading of cultural facilities in various campuses for performing arts and creative works.

To internationalize U.P., Pascual initiated in 2014 the shift of the U.P. academic calendar to an August start in order to synchronize it with its partner universities in ASEAN and in other parts of the world. He launched the programs for student exchange (MOVE U.P.), and for research collaboration by faculty and postgraduate students (COOPERATE). More funds were made available for international travel grants for paper presentation, and for bringing to U.P. eminent world leaders under the World Expert Lecture Series. He introduced international quality assurance of degree programs to benchmark U.P. against the best in the region.

Pascual's accomplishments as U.P. President were recognized with the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award in 2014 from the Philippine President, the Rotary Golden Wheel Award for Higher Education in 2013, and the Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award from the U.P. Alumni Association in 2017. For his achievements as U.P. President, he was also given by the Asia CEO Awards in 2018 the recognition as Circle of Excellence awardee for the category Global Filipino Executive of the Year.

To strengthen public service, he created the U.P. Padayon Public Service Office which organized disaster relief operations and provided training in disaster management, among others. He pursued arrangements for U.P. to provide technical assistance and policy studies support to government departments and offices, local government units, and other public universities. launched the U.P. Television on the Internet (TVUP) to fill the vacuum of reliable and university-based TV programs in the country. The university also entered into an agreement with the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network, known as the "Fact-Check" project for faculty members to appear regularly in forums related to the 2013 Philippine general election.

Pascual was also conferred an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy degree by Angeles University in Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines in 2012; an honorary Doctor of Sciences by the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila) in 2015; an honorary Doctor of Humanities by Partido State University in 2016; and a PhD in Social Science (honoris causa) by Shu-Te University, Taiwan in 2016.

Dr. Pascual was selected among the 11 nominees for the presidency of the University of the Philippines in 2011. Some of the other nominees were: School of Economics professor and former Budget Secretary (and now, Finance Secretary) Benjamin Diokno, former College of Law dean and Inquirer publisher Raul Pangalangan, National Historical Commission of the Philippines chair and former university vice president for academic affairs Ma. Serena Diokno, former Department of English & Comparative Literature chair Consolacion Alaras, former chancellors Sergio Cao of University of the Philippines Diliman and Luis Rey Velasco of University of the Philippines Los Banos, and Social Weather Stations fellow and School of Labor and Industrial Relations professor Virginia Teodosio.

To intensify research, he launched new research initiatives (e.g., Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in 2011, Emerging Interdisciplinary Research in 2012, U.P. Resilience Institute in 2016). He funded the building of modern laboratories (e.g., P1 billion National Institutes of Health building and the P350 million PGC complex). He sent more faculty members for advanced research studies abroad; incentivized the return to U.P. of Filipino PhDs from foreign institutions; and enhanced the rewards for research outputs. He created the Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO) to institutionalize efforts to commercialize intellectual properties (IPs) resulting from research for the benefit of the researchers and the university.

Pascual was the lead convenor of the Automated Election System (AES) Watch, an independent, multi-sector coalition that monitored and assessed the Philippines’ first ever nationwide poll automation in May 2010.

Currently, he is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), a non-stock, non-profit organization established in 1999 to lead in the advocacy for good governance in the corporate sector of the Philippines.

From 1989 to 2008, Pascual worked in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a senior investment officer in the private sector department. He then became director of its Private Sector Infrastructure Finance Division and its Capital Markets & Finance Sectors Division. Pascual later served as advisor on public-private partnership in infrastructure. He had postings in ADB's resident offices in New Delhi, India and Jakarta, Indonesia. He also represented ADB on the corporate board of the Mutual Fund Company of the Philippines and other corporations in China, India, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.

His early career was spent teaching at the Department of Chemistry of the University of the Philippines College of Science as an instructor. He also taught at the Ateneo de Manila University's departments of management engineering and business management as a part-time lecturer for over four years. He later became the American Express Foundation Professor of Financial Management from 1980 to 1989, chair of the Master of Business Management program, and director of the Advanced Bank Management program at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

Born to Armando Pascual and Melania Espinosa, Pascual graduated valedictorian from the University of Santo Tomas High School. He then enrolled in the University of the Philippines Diliman and took up B.S. Chemistry, graduating cum laude in 1969. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the same university in 1972. While at the University of the Philippines, he was initiated into the Upsilon Sigma Phi.

Alfredo "Fred" Espinosa Pascual (born July 7, 1948) is a Filipino international development banker and finance expert, currently serving as the Secretary of Trade and Industry under the administration of Bongbong Marcos since June 30, 2022. He also served as the 20th President of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) System, from 2011 to 2017. He was a member of the U.P. Board of Regents, the university's highest policy-making and governing body, representing the alumni, just before he was elected as U.P. President, the first non-faculty member to hold the position.