A woman鈥檚 resolve: Lt. Col. Jannette Chavez-Arceo fights for the reserve force聽
Jannette Chavez Arceo
Lt. Col. Jannette Chavez-Arceo has long led as a woman breaking barriers, both as a social entrepreneur and an educator building resilience, commanding her battalion through volcanic ash, the deadly coronavirus, and devastating typhoons to save lives.
Now, as the third nominee of the Laang Kawal partylist, she champions the rights of reservists and retirees whose service she has honored throughout her career.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Chavez-Arceo earned a degree in Communications in the 1990s, sharpening her skills in clarity and connection during the nation’s post-EDSA revolt recovery.
More than an academic pursuit, it was a deliberate step toward leadership. She later earned two master’s degrees: one in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines in 2016, and another in Public Management, specializing in Development and Security, from the Development Academy of the Philippines in 2019.
These were not just academic milestones but tools to confront real-world challenges—governance reform, national defense, and socio-economic development. Her education reflected a deeper commitment to understanding and strengthening the systems she would serve.
That commitment found its clearest expression in her military service. In 2019, after completing the rigorous Command and General Staff Course, Chavez-Arceo became the first woman to command the 403rd Ready Reserve Infantry Battalion in Laguna. This unit, under the Philippine Army Reserve Command, supports regional stability in Southern Luzon. Her role was earned through merit in a field still dominated by men, and her leadership was defined by action, not ceremony.
In January 2020, when Taal Volcano erupted and displaced over 300,000 people across Batangas and Laguna, Chavez-Arceo led her battalion into the field.
They joined convoys to deliver rice, water, and masks to cut-off communities and manned evacuation centers. Months later, Super Typhoon Rolly (Goni) —2020’s most powerful storm—struck on November 1, followed by Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) just eleven days later. Together, they claimed over 100 lives and flooded entire towns. Her unit responded swiftly, clearing debris and distributing aid in hard-hit areas like San Pablo City.
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the country to a standstill, Chavez-Arceo again mobilized her team. They helped enforce quarantine protocols, supported overwhelmed local governments, and ensured that food reached families. She even helped get hundreds of stranded UP Los Baños students go home to their families. A barangay captain from Los Baños described her as “a calm force, always present when we needed her most.”
Even off the battlefield, her fight is undiminished—this time, in the realm of justice. At the Department of Justice, Chavez-Arceo tackled one of the Philippines’ most persistent scourges: human trafficking.
From 2011 to 2015, she served as a key member of the ASEAN Experts Working Group of the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime, helping draft the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, signed in 2015 and ratified in 2017. This landmark agreement established a regional framework to combat trafficking networks exploiting an estimated 100,000 victims annually across Southeast Asia. Her work focused on strengthening law enforcement coordination and victim support programs, including safe houses that have since sheltered hundreds of survivors.
In 2013, she helped drive the Philippines’ entry into the Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation Online and the Asia Pacific Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography, targeting financial networks behind online abuse. Her efforts contributed to the Philippines’ Tier 1 ranking in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report in 2016 when the country was almost given blacklist level rating, thus marking the country as a global leader in anti-trafficking reforms.
Her work in countering transnational crimes and security threats earned her the recognition of being one of ASEAN’S Top 10 Women in Security in 2022, an award announced at a Kuala Lumpur Cybersecurity Summit. She accepted it with humility, saying the real measure of success lies in the lives protected, not the honors received.
Her resolve is not confined in her profession—it is also deeply personal. A wife and mother, Chavez-Arceo has balanced family with public service, a dual role that drives her advocacy for women’s and children’s rights.
She has been a proponent of peace education since the early 2000s, and in 2019 launched a pilot program in Laguna schools and in Sulu province to teach students about online safety and countering online youth radicalization—an urgent response to extremist messaging spreading via social media.
By 2023, the initiative had reached thousands nationwide, training teachers, parents, and youth alike through Impact Solutions Institute — a social enterprise she founded in partnership with various stakeholders. Her work reflects a mother’s instinct to protect, extended to a national scale. Her determination is to ensure her children, and all children, inherit a safer world.
Now, as the third nominee for the Laang Kawal partylist in the 2025 elections, Chavez-Arceo is poised to elevate the reserve force she has long exemplified.
Founded to represent reservists’ interests, the partylist seeks legislative support for the country’s 1.9 million-strong reserve community and other force multiplier civilian volunteer groups.
Her platform includes calls for increased funding, adequate equipment, and legislative reforms—including standardized health and accident insurance for reservists during training and legislating the Patriotic Leave. At a 2023 assembly, she pointed to the 403rd’s Taal response as proof of their role and value to their regular active personnel counterparts, declaring, “We’re not just a backup; we’re a backbone.” Her nomination builds on decades of service, aligning with a lifelong mission to strengthen those who serve alongside her.
Lt. Col. Jannette Chavez-Arceo’s story is one of steady, purposeful impact—marked by a quiet strength that speaks through deeds, not declarations. From her formative years at UP to her command during crises, from justice reform to family-driven advocacy, she has lived with intention.
Her legacy lies not in the accolades she has earned, though they are many, but in the communities she has steadied, the policies she has shaped, and the lives she has touched. She moves forward with clarity and determination, proving that true service is not about being heard, but about being felt—leaving a nation stronger, one resolute step at a time.
