The Resident Coordinator Office Team

Man with UN flag and UN Global Compact flag behind

Arnaud Peral

UN Resident Coordinator

arnaud.peral@un.org

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Mr. Arnaud Peral of France as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, with the host Government’s approval, on 1 February 2025.

Mr. Peral was most recently the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Tunisia since 2020. Prior to that, he served successively as United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ecuador, UNDP Country Director in Colombia, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in México and then Brazil, Programme Manager and Chief of Staff in UNDP´s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean in New York and Programme Officer in UNDP Cuba.

Prior to joining the UN System in 2000, Mr. Peral served as Cooperation Counsellor for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the French Embassy in Cuba, Research Assistant in the Ministry of Environment in France and Research Assistant in public policy in the Ministry of Agriculture in Chile.

Mr. Peral holds a Master´s Degree in Development Economics from the University of Paris X-Nanterre and a bachelor’s degree in Economic Policy from the University Pierre Mendes France, Grenoble.

Matija Kovač

RCO

Head of Office

kovacm@un.org +639173051759

Mr. Matija Kovač has joined UN Philippines in 2023 from North Macedonia, where he served as the Head of RC Office since early 2020. He also supported RCOs in Sudan (2021) and Kyrgyzstan (2022) in the same capacity. Before joining the UN RC System, he was with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Af-fairs (OCHA) where he worked in the areas of humanitarian financing, coordination and resource mo-bilization in Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine and with the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in New York. Prior to OCHA he worked for the UN in Sudan, had various short-term assignments in the fields of development and humanitarian response, and had worked in the private sector in Switzerland and Kenya. He is Slovenian, holds a Diploma in Political Science and Master’s degrees in International Affairs and in International Law.

Jeremy Arevalo

UNIC

Digital Communications Assistant

arevalo1@un.org

Joshua Jediah Garcia

RCO

Data Management, Results Monitoring and Reporting Officer

joshua.garcia@un.org

Cenona Bagaipo

RCO

Executive Assistant to RC

cenona.bagaipo@un.org +63 917 868 4418

Eden Grace Lumilan

RCO

Partnerships & Development Finance Officer

eden.lumilan@un.org +63 917 509 3645

Eden brings 20 years of experience in sustainable development, strategic planning, cross-functional coordination, programme management, strategic partnerships and development finance. She began her career working for the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) where she held various positions including as Philippine Government focal person for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She then joined the United Nations as Programme Manager handling aid coordination (2006-2008), as Coordination Analyst (2008-2019) performing various responsibilities including as informal Team Leader. She currently handles Partnerships and Development Finance, where she provides strategic advice and operational coordination across the partnership portfolio of the UN Philippines, actively seeking out synergies and joint programming to ensure effective, timely, coordinated UN system-wide support to Government and partners. She holds a bachelor’s degree in development studies and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of the Philippines.

Fritz Flores

UNIC

National Information Officer

fritz.flores@un.org

John Alikpala

RCO

Development Coordination Officer - Economist

john.alikpala@un.org +63 917 812 0026

Maria Jorica Pamintuan

UNIC

Public Information Assistant

maria.pamintuan@un.org

Mary Scheree Lynn Herrera Divinagracia

RCO

Programme Specialist UN / Inter-Agency PSEA Coordinator

scheree.divinagracia@un.org

Signe Poulsen

OHCHR

Senior Human Rights Advisor

signe.poulsen1@un.org

Ms. Signe Poulsen has served as the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the United Nations in the Philippines since July 2020. Prior to that, she served as the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul from 2015 to 2020. She has held various positions with the UN including in Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Kyrgyzstan and Liberia. She holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Suzette Azucena Imperial

RCO

Administrative Assistant

azucena.imperial@un.org +63 917 575 7763