# Guillrey Anthony Andal

Guillrey Anthony "Ernald" Mallari Andal, S.J. is a Filipino Jesuit priest who currently serves as the fifth president of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. He assumed office on March 15, 2023 and succeeded Karel San Juan.

## Early life and education

Andal was born in Quezon City, Philippines, on March 5, 1976. He studied in the Ateneo de Manila University during his basic education years from 1980 to 1994 and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Management Economics degree in 1998. He also attended the Loyola School of Theology, receiving his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 2014. He was conferred a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry degree in 2015. In 2020, he finished his Doctorate in Education for Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, USA.

## Early career

From 1998 to 2003, Andal worked at the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) as an Operations Officer in the Retail Banking Division. He expressed displeasure from his fourth and fifth year working at BPI leading him to join the Society of Jesus.

## As a Jesuit

Andal entered the Society of Jesus in 2003. He was ordained deacon on September 14, 2013, and as priest on April 12, 2014. He joined the Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan as a political program development officer from 2006 to 2007 and 2010 to 2011. He regularly appeared in a Catholic TV program by JesCom and ABS-CBN titled "Kape't Pandesal" as the show's host from 2007 to 2017. He was the Executive Director of the Jesuit Music Ministry from 2011 to 2013. From 2014 to 2017, he served as an Assistant Parish Priest of Our Lady Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Parish in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
When Andal returned to the Philippines after finishing his studies in the United States, Fr. Primitivo E. Viray Jr., the then Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines, assigned him to the Ateneo de Davao University on July 14, 2020, wherein he acted as the Assistant to the Academic Vice President of the university. On July 1, 2022, he was assigned to the Ateneo de Zamboanga University as its Basic Education Chaplain.
On August 22, 2022, a week prior to his tertianship, he was elected by the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Board of Trustees as the next president of the university. He assumed office on March 15, 2023 shortly after his tertianship, and was officially installed on June 17, 2023.

## As an educator

Andal was a youth minister at the University of the Philippines-Diliman Chaplaincy Office from 2005 to 2006. From 2008 to 2010, he taught religious studies at Sacred Heart School - Ateneo de Cebu for his regency. He worked as a radio commentator for a weekly youth-oriented political talk show on Radio Veritas-Manila, from 2011 to 2014. He served as the director of St. Isidore High School in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon from 2014 to 2017. His experiences as an educator in Bukidnon led him to pursue his doctoral studies at Loyola Marymount University.

## Activity

Andal serves as a trustee at Ateneo de Davao University, Ateneo de Naga University, Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, Xavier School, and Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu. He also serves as the current president of the Zamboanga Basilan Sulu Tawi-Tawi Association of Private Schools (ZAMBASULTAPS), the regional director of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) for Region 9, and the regional program director of the Private Education Assistance Committee for Region 9.
He also assisted in developing partnerships for AdZU with other institutions such as Ateneo de Manila University to open the Master of Laws program, the first in Region 9, as well as with organizations such as SM Supermalls, the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, DTI, DOST, and DICT.