Atty. Jonas R. Leones has 31 years of experience in various technical, legal, and managerial capacities with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Philippines. He currently serves as the Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs, with the rank of Career Executive Service Officer (CESO), Rank I. He coordinates all international environmental concerns including the implementation of international environmental treaties and the participation of the Philippines in international environmental bodies and conferences

Atty. Leones supervises the Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO) and River Basin Control Office (RBCO), and oversees the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, one of the Department’s priority programs. He also acts as the Spokesperson of the Department and the supervising Undersecretary for the Forest Management Bureau and Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau. He also serves as the Philippine focal person in the International Review Panel Steering Committee of the United Nations Environment Programme. He is also a member of the Pollution Adjudication Board, and served as its Board Secretary and Legal Counsel, in concurrent capacity from August 2005- July 2013. 

Atty. Leones holds a Master’s Degree in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws from the New Era University, Quezon City in 2005 and passed the Philippine Bar Examination in 2006. As a full scholar, he also finished his Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of the Philippines – Los Baños, Laguna in 2000, and his Bachelor of Science in Forestry degree in 1990, where he received the College of Forestry Award for Leadership.