CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND LEGAL SERVICES GROUP (CLG)
Atty. Cherryl G. Carbonell
Officer-in-Charge Director
Consumer Affairs and Advocacy Bureau
Atty. Marco C. Maat
Director
Legal Services Office
Perpetua Werlina R. Lim
Officer-in-Charge Assistant Director
Consumer Affairs and Advocacy Bureau
He also served as the Executive Director of the CIAP, an attached agency of the DTI and was designated as Secondary Alternate Representative of the DTI for the National Housing Authority (NHA) Board of Directors, and DTI Alternate Representative to the NEDA Board Committee on Infrastructure and its Technical Board (INFRACOM-TB).
Director Maat was also previously designated as the DTI’s Deputy Department Legislative Liaison Officer and the Vice-Chair for the Government of the Export Development Council – Networking Committee on Legislative Advocacy and Monitoring (NCLAM).
Tasked by previous DTI Secretaries to promote, advocate and formulate policies in relation to the legislative priorities of the Department, Atty. Maat significantly contributed, with his team, an innovative formulation of the DTI’s Legislative Agenda. He and his team also provided bill drafting services and assistance to several bureaus of DTI, as well as assisted DTI in key policy initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was part of the legal and policy team that contributed to the issuances of guidelines relevant to DTI’s and IATF’s COVID-19 response in 2020 & 2021.
For over a decade, he has been involved in legal work and has extensive experience in legal writing, policy formulation, legislative bill drafting, and legislative advocacy. Withal, as a lawyer, his comprehensive and in-depth professional understanding of both commercial and political law has lent him an incisive and acute grasp of the legislative process in the Philippines.
He is a dedicated public servant with the intention to further help the Government, especially on bringing back the energy to the economy and properly serve the Filipino people. He believes that his profession is not only for himself nor for his family but also for the society. For him, rule of law should prevail and every right should be respected.
Atty. Fhillip D. Sawali is the Director of the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB), the chief regulatory and implementing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for protecting the rights and welfare of consumers and for upholding trade laws and industry standards. As FTEB Director, he leads a workforce upwards of 140 that is dedicated to enforcing consumer protection laws and regulations; monitoring prices and supplies of basic commodities; licensing and accrediting certain trade and import activities; and ensuring remedies for complaints involving violations of the Consumer Act of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 7394) and other relevant laws.
Director Sawali has taught constitutional law as a Professorial Lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Law. From 2016 to 2022, he served as the chief of staff of the Office of Senator Leila de Lima at the Senate of the Philippines. Also, in various durations from 2010 to 2016, he provided legal assistance as either counsel or consultant to several government institutions including the Office of the Speaker at the House of Representatives, the Office of the Regional Governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Batangas State University, and the Office of the President. During his private practice, he co-founded the law firm Belmonte Sison Sawali and Associates, as well as worked at the Camacho and Associates Law Office, and the United Coconut Planters Bank.
Director Sawali is married and has three daughters. He earned his Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2002. He graduated cum laude in Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in 1997. He also finished class valedictorian in both elementary and high school in his hometown of Mabini, Batangas where his parents served as long-time government employees. His mother was school principal and district supervisor for the Department of Education. His father was an agriculturist and local councilor.
Atty. Marimel Dancel Porciuncula spent more than half of her age as a public servant. She joined the DTI in 1992 and it is her wish to retire in the agency she considers her home. Currently, she serves as Director III or Assistant Director of the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) of the DTI-Consumer Protection Group (CPG).
She assists the FTEB Director, the CPG Assistant Secretaries and Undersecretary in the review and effective and efficient implementation of consumer protection, business regulation, and fair trade laws and policies, including technical regulations, and of the Quality Management System (QMS) initiatives of the functional group.
From March 12, 1992 to September 5, 1995, she served as Atty. I, Principal Trademark Examiner II of the DTI-Bureau of Patent Trademarks and Technology Transfer (BPTTT), now known as Intellectual Property Office. She served as Atty. IV and Atty. V of the DTI-Office of Legal Affairs, now known as Legal Service from September 6, 1995 to June 9, 1998 and from June 10, 1998 to January 31, 2016, respectively. From February 1, 2016 to present, she serves as CPG Director III/Assistant Director.
In the interest of the service, sometime between 2017 and 2020, she was designated as Officer-in-Charge-Director for the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau (CPAB) and the FTEB in a temporary capacity.
For her, DTI’s Core Values of Passion, Integrity, Competence, Creativity, Synergy and Love of Country are things she wanted to bring in her post DTI journey.
Assistant Director, Atty. Marimel Dancel Porciuncula obtained her Bachelor of Science in Zoology Degree at the University of Santo Tomas and her Bachelor of Laws Degree from the Far Eastern University. She is a product of retired public servants, married to her first and only boyfriend and a mother of four.