Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo

Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo (born February 7, 1991) is a Filipino politician 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 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.

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.

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.

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

Early career
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.

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.

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.

Executive career


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.

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. She presented the efforts of the Philippine Government, particularly the DICT, in bridging the digital gender gap.

Communication is a key component of Lamentillo’s career even as a public servant. She served as spokesperson for two national agencies—the Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Information and Communications Technology.

She ranked first in the two consecutive surveys of government agency spokespersons conducted by the RP Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMD) when she was DICT spokesperson. She received 88% performance rating in RPMD’s November 27 to December 2, 2022, survey; and 89% in its February 25 to March 8, 2023, survey.

Lamentillo was bestowed the Adopted Lakan Award by the Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association Inc. in its 44th Grand Alumni Homecoming on March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day.

Published works
Since 2015, Lamentillo has maintained a column in the Opinion-Editorial section of the Manila Bulletin where she discusses current issues, presents in-depth analysis of various political and socio-economic national and global concerns, and features personalities whose stories can inspire others. She is also a columnist of Balita, People Asia, and Esquire magazine.

In December 10, 2021, Lamentillo has authored her first book, titled "Night Owl: A Nationbuilder's Manual," which shares its title with her column in the Manila Bulletin. The book delves into the Build Build Build program and the implementation of significant infrastructure projects across 18 regions in the Philippines.

She provides details of major infrastructure projects, including Skyway, NLEX Connector, Metro Manila Subway, Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge across all 18 regions of the country. In the book, she lays out key information about the Philippines' Infrastructure Program, offering invaluable insights into the EDSA Decongestion Program, Luzon Spine Expressway Project, the Mega Bridge Masterplan, the Metro Manila Logistics Network, and the Mindanao Road Development Network.

The second edition of the book includes a new chapter on Build Better More thrust of the administration of Bongbong Marcos.

The book was officially launched in 2023 in the presence of two former presidents Rodrigo Duterte and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The book has since been translated to Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilokano and Hiligaynon.

Accolades

 * 2011 Bayer Young Environmental Envoy (BYEE) from UNEP and Bayer
 * 2012 UPLB Natatanging Iskolar Para sa Bayan
 * 2012 Oblation Statute for the Virtues of Industry and Magnanimity
 * 2019 Women of Style and Substance from Stargate People Asia
 * 2019 Bluprint Under 38 Future Shaper
 * 2019 Game Changer from Lifestyle Asia
 * 2019 Veritas Medal from the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association
 * 2023 People to Watch from Rising Tigers Magazine
 * 2023 Notable Female Government Leader of the Year from Asia’s Modern Hero Awards

Audiobooks

 * 2022: Night Owl (Selected Excerpts) (read by the author)

Columns

 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "A Call for Ceasefire", Manila Bulletin (November 8, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "The Need for Continuous Learning in crisis-affected children", Manila Bulletin (November 8, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Karlie Kloss: Turning her runway fame into a platform to empower and inspire", Manila Bulletin (October 25, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Beyond the silver screen: How Matt Damon is changing the world, drop by drop", Manila Bulletin (October 4, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Investing in our future: Adolescent well-being", Manila Bulletin (September 27, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "High time to formalize the PH care economy", Manila Bulletin (September 22, 2023).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Why do I support Build, Build, Build?", Manila Bulletin (October 8, 2021).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Bike lanes to the future", Manila Bulletin (October 1, 2021).
 * Lamentillo, Anna Mae, Y. "Boracay: A case of political will", Manila Bulletin (October 20, 2018).