Dr. Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, DSD. is the nationwide Chief Public Attorney of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO), Republic of the Philippines since February 23, 2001. She is the 4th Placer in the 1989 Bar Examinations. She is a 2015 University of the Philippines Doctor of Social Development scholar/graduate, 2003-2004 Asian Public Intellectual Senior Fellow, and 2009 Salzburg Global Fellow. She has completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program, Senior Executive Program on National and International Security, and Public Financial Management at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS), Massachusetts, U.S.A. She has also acquired a 2013 Professional Certificate in International Management and Leadership from the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies in London, United Kingdom. As a passionate advocate of prison reforms, she was granted a scholarship on New Approaches to Prison Management and Rehabilitation in 2013, and National Security in 2016, by the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI) international programs in Nahalal, Israel.