Sedfrey Candelaria


Sedfrey M. Candelaria, is the incumbent Dean of the Ateneo Law School in Makati City, Philippines.

Education

Candelaria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, from the Ateneo de Manila University. He received his Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo Law School in 1984. He obtained a Master of Laws from the University of British Columbia in 1986 as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. In October 2005, he was conferred a Diplomate in Juridical Science by San Beda College.

Career

Candelaria is a member of the faculty of the Ateneo Law School teaching Constitutional Law, Political Law Review, Public International Law, International Economic Law and Indigenous Peoples Law. He was appointed Associate Dean of the Ateneo Law School and was appointed Associate Dean of Student Affairs in 2000. Candelaria also teaches in the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and in the Master of Laws Program jointly administered by the Supreme Court Philippine Judicial Academy and the San Beda College Graduate Program in Law. Before entering the legal profession, he had a respectable stint in Philippine football, consistently starting as a Goalkeeper for the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles during his collegiate education leading to his call-up to the Philippines national football team.
His other posts include counsel to the International Finance Group of the Department of Finance, Research Director of the Ateneo Human Rights Center, directorship of the Adhikain Para sa Karapatang Pambata of the Ateneo Human Rights Center, Head of Research and Linkages Office and Chair of the Special Areas of Concern of PHILJA, founder and chair of the legal desk of the Ateneo Human Rights Center on indigenous peoples’ concerns and founder and chair of the Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian Ad Litem Foundation of the Philippines.
Candelaria was part of the Negotiating Panel for the Peace Talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
In the occasion when articles of impeachment were filed against Chief Justice of the Philippines, Hilario Davide, Jr., Candelaria, together with other co-petitioners, filed a petition for Certiorari and Prohibition seeking the issuance of a writ "perpetually" prohibiting respondent House of Representatives from filing any Articles of Impeachment against the Chief Justice with the Senate; and for the issuance of a writ "perpetually" prohibiting respondents Senate and Senate President Franklin Drilon from accepting any Articles of Impeachment against the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court ruled, in Francisco v. House of Representatives, G.R. No. 160261, November 10, 2003 that the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice is barred under paragraph 5, section 3 of Article XI of the Constitution.
Most recently, Candelaria acted as the chief legal consultant of the GRP peace panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The provisions of the draft memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain was sought to be disclosed in a petition filed before the Supreme Court. Candelaria argued for the GRP panel and affirmed that the MOA-AD would have required a “drastic change” in the Constitution, had it been signed, including, among others, Article I on National Territory and Article 10 on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao of the Constitution.

Publications

Candelaria has authored and edited various books and articles in constitutional law, human rights law and international economic law, some of which are as follows:
Candelaria was born in Manila on July 19, 1958. He is married with two children.