The Management Association of the Philippines inaugurated the new set of board officials led by lawyer Benedicta “Dick” Du-Baladad, founding partner and chief executive of Du-Baladad & Associates as the 75th MAP president.
Du-Baladad brings to the table a solid experience in management―an accountant and a lawyer, with a joint degree of Masters of Law and International Tax Program at the Harvard University.
Joining Du-Baladad on the MAP 2023 board of governors are Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines chair emeritus and ESG leader Alexander Cabrera as vice president; DITO CME chief operating officer Donald Lim as treasurer; HSBC Philippines treasurer, head of markets and securities services, and member of ExCom Ma. Corazon Pursisima as assistant treasurer; and IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines senior advisor to the board Karen Batungbakal as secretary.
Elected as governors were Brain Trust Inc. chair Cielito Habito, P&A Grant Thornton founder Benjamin Punongbayan, PHINMA Corp. president and chief operating officer Chito Salazar and Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. president and chief executive Martha Sazon.
Du-Baladad’s experience, expertise, determination and strong will all contributed to making BDB Law one of the leading tax and corporate law firms today, leading to its consistent recognition as an outstanding tax law firm by international ranking bodies, including the Chambers and Partners, International Tax Review, Legal 500 and Asia Legal Business.
Du-Baladad previously received citation as the national leader for Southeast Asia – Corporate Tax in the 2022 edition of Who’s Who LegalThought Leaders and is consistently ranked by Asia Business Law Journal as one of the Philippines’ top 100 lawyers (2018-2022).
She is a highly regarded name in the field of taxation. She has been recognized for consecutive years as an Elite Tax Practitioner by International Tax Review, a Band 1 Leading Lawyer by Chambers and Partners and a Tax Dispute Resolution Lawyer by Women in Business Law.
She also served as president of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines in 2017 and spearheaded the creation of the FINEX Academy as a center of learning and excellence on capital market development in the country. From 2019 to 2022, she assumed co-chairmanship of the Capital Market Development Council.
A former official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, she served in various posts in offices involved in operations, policy formulation and legal. One of her significant contributions in the BIR was the setting up of and designing the organizational structure of the Large Taxpayers Service.
She moved to the private sector in 2001 and shortly thereafter became the president of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines.
These valuable insights into both the public and private sectors and her notable objective thinking are attributes that serve her well in her role as a consultant of the government on various projects, including those on tax reforms, pension reforms and capital market development initiatives.
She serves as a director of various companies and NGOs, both here and abroad. Included in her directorships are Asia Pacific director for WTS Global, vice chair of Bank of Commerce and trustee of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Institute of Corporate Directors and Women Business Council of the Philippines.
She is also a professorial lecturer at the College of Law of University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas. As a subject expert in taxation, she has written books on the specialized taxation of the banking, insurance and financial intermediation sectors.
In 2015, she established the BDB Law Foundation identifying education as a top priority. From its inception, the Foundation continues to build and donate school buildings, clinics and other facilities to public schools in far–flung areas nationwide This is to help provide access to good education and enable conducive learning environment to these areas where resources are scarce.
Du-Baldad is also a writer, painter, fashion designer and lover of nature. She is a proud mother of four boys.