Marcial Amaro, Jr. is a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) III with continuous 40-year
service in the government, all with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR). He is presently the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Foreign Assisted and Special Projects, and concurrent Director of Forest Management Bureau (FMB).
His immediate past assignment was Assistant Secretary for Field Operations – a post he held for over seven (7) years. He held other various posts such as concurrent OIC-Undersecretary for Field Operations, Director of Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau and FMB, Regional Executive Director of DENR-MIMAROPA Region and DENR-NCR, and Director of Philippine Environmental Governance Project and DENR-Policy Studies Service. He also served as Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer of Iloilo and (North) Cotabato.
He was Chair, Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Member, FAO-Committee on Forestry, and elected Member of APFC Executive Committee. He is ASEAN Senior Official on Forestry (ASOF)-Philippines and Alternate ASEAN Senior Official on Environment (ASOEN)-Philippines. He served as National Focal Point and/or country representative to various international organizations and arrangements such as International Tropical Timber Organization, International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, Institute for Global Environment Strategies, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, etc.
He is a Registered Professional Forester. He placed 2nd in the 1981 Foresters Board Examination, and was conferred “Most Outstanding Professional in the Field of Forestry for 2012” by the Professional Regulation Commission. He is a recipient of “Outstanding Public Service Award (Government Service)” from the UP at Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources Alumni Association (UPLB-CFNRAA), and a “Distinguished Service Award” for enhanced delivery of DENR services in Cotabato through an innovative motorcycle acquisition scheme and construction of the PENRO building. He holds other various commendations and citations.
He possesses a Master in Public Management, with honors, from the Development Academy of the Philippines. He also earned a Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Economics from University of New England (Australia) and a B. S. degree in Forestry from UPLB.