Jonas Leones

Jonas has over 35 years of experience in various technical, legal, and managerial positions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Currently, he serves as Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs, with the rank of Career Executive Service Officer, Rank I. He supervises the Manila Bay Coordinating Office and oversees the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, which is one of DENR's priority programs.    

Additionally, Jonas is the supervising Undersecretary for the Forest Management Bureau. He is also the designated Permanent Alternate of the DENR Secretary, sitting as the Chairperson to the Laguna Lake Development Authority Board of Directors.  

In his role, he coordinates all international environmental concerns, including the implementation of international environmental treaties and the Philippines' participation in international environmental bodies and conferences. His office published the books, International Agreements on Environment and Natural Resources and Philippine International Commitments on Environment and Natural Resources: Roadmaps and Updates, which were respectively launched in 2016 and 2020.

Jonas also serves as the Presiding Officer of the Pollution Adjudication Board. In previous years, he served the same Board from August 2005 to July 2013 as its Board Secretary and Legal Counsel, in a concurrent capacity. Apart from this, Jonas is a part-time professor at the New Era University College of Law.  

Jonas holds a master’s degree in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United States. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws Degree from New Era University in the Philippines in 2005 and passed the Philippine Bar Examination in 2006. As a full scholar, he also finished his master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 2000,  and his bachelor’s degree in Forestry in 1990, where he received the College of Forestry Award for Leadership. He garnered eighth place in the Forester’s Board Examination in 1991.