Rhodora, or Dhola to her colleagues and friends, is the current Director of the Policy Development and Planning Bureau which is Office in-charge in the overall planning, monitoring, and evaluation in the DSWD. She oversees the conduct of strategic planning and policy development in the Department, and serves as DWD’s representative to national development planning processes. Recently, she spearheaded the review of the Social Protection Operational Framework of the Philippine government and the development of the Social Protection Plan. She also led in the development of the 2019-2022 performance roadmap of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster.

With over 15 years of experience in the Department, she continuously institutes policy reforms along Planning, Policy and M&E to achieve the required calibration in balancing the usual and out-of-the-box interventions aimed at promoting results-based management in the Department. She is a Registered Social Worker with a Master’s Degree on Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands.