Rose-Liza “Liza” Eisma-Osorio
Campaign Legal and Policy Senior Director
Oceana Staff
Liza leads the Campaign and Legal Departments working on strategic, directed campaigns in the Philippines to ensure protection of oceans through science-based fisheries management and policy reforms.
She has more than 25 years of extensive work experience in natural resources law and policy, with focus on sustainable coastal and fisheries management and working with local communities to conserve marine sensitive areas. She is an environmental lawyer, and a law professor at the University of Cebu School of Law and San Sebastian College Recoletos Graduate School of Law. She is a co-founder of the Philippine Earth Justice Center, Inc. (PEJC), which has filed several environmental cases, including the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Resident Marine Mammals and Dolphins vs. Reyes where she was recognized as the co-steward of the dolphins and whales to stop illegal oil drilling and exploration in the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, the largest marine protected area in the Philippines. She was elected as the Chairperson of the International Union for Conservation of Nature – Academy of Environmental Law (IUCNAEL) – the first Asian to lead the academy, and served for four years until 2023.
What Liza loves about being a public interest lawyer is being able to go to communities and be able to listen to them and giving them a voice that empowers them to be part of the solution. As a teacher, she mentors young lawyers and law students in environmental law and policy practice to inspire them to become the future generation of environmental law advocates in the Philippines.
She finished her Bachelor of Science major in Chemistry at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, Juris Doctor at the Silliman University, and Master of Laws (LLM) at the San Sebastian College Recoletos Graduate School of Law.