NAMRIA Administrator Peter N. Tiangco
Administrator Peter N. Tiangco was born inAparri, Cagayan. Owing to his father’s work which
entailed their moving to his different places of work
assignment, Administrator Tiangco, however, grew up
in Santiago City, Isabela where his family finallysettled. He studied from kindergarten to elementary
grade one at St. Paul School in Aparri; fromelementary grade two to high school at University ofLa Salette in Santiago City, Isabela; and college at theUniversity of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB),
Laguna. He graduated from the UPLB with a Bachelorof Science degree in Forestry and was a fifth-placer inthe 1985 Forester Board Examination.
There were many private businesses dealing with forest products in their area soforestry was his practical choice as undergraduate course. The sight, however, of denuded
mountains during his frequent road trips from Isabela to Manila likewise instilled in him theimportance of natural resources development and management. His very fond memories ofthe farm with fruit trees and a creek of his mother’s family in Nueva Vizcaya also spurred
him on to want to make a difference so he decided to become part of government, specificallythe Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

He was first a casual

forester in DENR Region II and this was followed by his taking part in the Community
Development Training for foresters all over the Philippines which he topped. He later worked
at the Parks and Wildlife Bureau, DENR where he helped establish the Integrated Protected
Areas System (IPAS). He served as a technical assistant to the IPAS Project Director.
Then he was accepted as a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) scholarfor masteral studies under the Interdisciplinary Natural Resources Development andManagement Program of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand. He topped hisclass and had the good fortune of being chosen by the Mekong Secretariat to be the overalladministrator for their land use mapping project for the whole of Cambodia. After working
in Cambodia for more than a year, he returned to the AIT determined to pursue post-graduate
studies. In between applying for scholarships, he worked on remote sensing projects at theAIT, some of which brought him to different places in Europe under the projects funded bythe European Space Agency.
From 1995 to 1999, with a scholarship from the Australian Agency for International
Development (AUSAID), he studied and finished his doctorate degree in Geomatics at theUniversity of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. By then he had married Cindy Cisneros,
his batchmate in the AIT who was with the School of Energy Technology and is currently
working as a Principal Energy Specialist at the Pacific Department of the Asian Development
Bank (ADB). While waiting for his wife to finish her doctorate degree also at the UNSW, hetook on various technical jobs at the university. He went back to the Philippines in 2000 andserved as a technical consultant and did research work for the DENR and was in the pool oftechnical consultants at the Philippines-Australia Governance Facility from 2000 to 2001.
He first became part of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority(NAMRIA), an attached agency of the DENR, as Deputy Administrator in 2001. He wasappointed as NAMRIA Administrator with the rank of Undersecretary on 03 March 2010 andwas reappointed on 21 July 2010. He is the first ever technocrat and civilian to be appointed
as full-fledged administrator of NAMRIA.
He is the recipient of numerous awards such as the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus
Award in Public Service and Good Governance from the UP Alumni Association (UPAA); 2019
Most Outstanding Alumnus Award, otherwise known as the Mancono* Award, from the UPLB
College of Forestry and Natural Resources Alumni Association (CFNRAA), together with the2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award for Public Governance (Mancono Award) from the UPLBAlumni Association, Inc.; 2015 Outstanding Alumnus Award for Good Governance from theUPLB CFNRAA; 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Public Sector category from theAIT Alumni Association; 2011 Outstanding Professional Award in the field of Forestry fromthe Professional Regulation Commission; and the 2011 Outstanding Alumnus Award forGovernment Service from the UPLB CFNRAA.

Among his notable accomplishments inNAMRIA was the successful defense before the United Nations Commission on the Limits ofthe Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) of the country’s claim for an Extended Continental Shelf inthe Benham Rise, where he headed the Philippine Delegation. From being a Career Executive
Service Eligible in 2010, he is now a Career Executive Service Officer Rank One.
Undersecretary Tiangco is NAMRIA’s fifth appointed administrator since the agency wascreated in 1987 by virtue of Executive Order number 192.

*Mancono is the common name for the Philippine ironwood (Xanthosternon Verdugoniames Vames),a tree species native to the Philippines that is known to yield the hardest timber.