Avelino J. Cruz

Avelino J. Cruz, Jr. is a Senior Partner of Cruz Marcelo and Tenefrancia. He specializes in commercial litigation, corporate & commercial law, infrastructure projects, and administrative law.

Mr. Cruz served as Secretary of the Department of National Defense. He is credited for introducing comprehensive and institution-wide reforms through the Philippine Defense Reform program. He also previously served as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel in the Office of the President, where he provided strategic legal counsel to the President of the Republic of the Philippines on key policy issues and oversaw inter-agency efforts in public policy litigation and international arbitration. He also advised the President on appointments to the Executive and the Judiciary. On several occasions, Mr. Cruz served as Acting Executive Secretary, supervising the different departments of government.

Mr. Cruz graduated cum laude and salutatorian from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1977 and placed 7th in the Bar Examinations. As a student leader during martial law, he served as President of the UP Law Student Government and the Student Council of the Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1991 and was Bar Examiner in Commercial Law in the 1995 Philippine Bar Examinations. Mr. Cruz served as President of the Philippine Bar Association. He is also a member the ASEAN Law Association, International Bar Association, Inter-Pacific Bar Association, and the New York State Bar Association. In 2003, he was conferred a Doctor of Laws degree honoris causa by the Baguio Colleges Foundation.