Gilbert T. Andres is a Deputy Executive Director of the Center for International Law Philippines (CenterLaw), a human rights and rule of law NGO based in the Philippines. He is the Chairperson of the Advocates for Freedom of Expression Coalition-Southeast Asia (AFEC-SEA), a regional coalition of 12 NGOs from 6 Southeast Asian countries (Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar) with CenterLaw serving as its Co-Secretariat.
He is a Junior Partner at the Butuyan & Rayel Law Offices, a litigation firm that also specializes in strategic public interest cases. He is a private prosecutor in People vs. Andal Ampatuan, Jr., et al. (Maguindanao massacre case) where 196 people are accused for the murder of 58 people, including 32 journalists and media workers. He was co-counsel in at least 7 public interest cases before the Philippine Supreme Court. He has delivered trainings, talks, lectures, and/or papers in conferences, training-workshops or forums in Japan, India, Hong Kong, Germany, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. He will deliver a lightning talk at the RightsCon Toronto 2018 on 17 May 2018 (Thursday, 10:30-11:45) concerning the topic “Real Fake News or Mere Expression?:Forging an Effective Human Rights-Based Response to Fake News in Southeast-Asia.” He has published works on freedom of speech, investigations and prosecution of extrajudicial killings, international humanitarian law and human rights law, election law, and theoretical physics. He holds a JD Law and a BS Theoretical Physics degree from the University of the Philippines.