Mr. Manuel H. Torres who has recently been appointed as Chairman of the Board of the Philippine National Railways is a mechanical engineer by profession having earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Philippines (UP). He is also a holder of a Masters degree in Business Administration from the same university.
Mr. Torres has been employed in various capacities in several prestigious companies like Petron Corporation, Tubemakers Philippines, Inc., Bliss Development Corporation, San Miguel Properties Phils., Inc., Leighton Contractors Phils, Inc., and State Properties Corporation ever since he graduated from the UP. Because of his exemplary performance, he steadily rose from the ranks until he assumed the post of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Assistant Governor and Head of Security Plant Complex (the BSP facility that prints Philippine bank notes, mints Philippine coins, refines gold to London bullion market standards, prints Philippine passports and Land Registration Authority land titles, and manufactures Philippine presidential medals), a position he has held until his retirement from government service in January 2013.
While he was focused in furthering his career in his chosen fields of expertise, he also found time to teach in order to impart to others the knowledge and know-how he has gained from his many years of experience as executive of the various companies he became part of. He is presently a professional lecturer in Management at the UP Manila campus as well as a lecturer in Construction Administration for the Post-Baccalaureate Diploma Program on Real Estate Management of De la Salle College of St. Benilde-CREBA.
Charmain Torres' involvement in the academe has not been confined solely to teaching as he has been active various organizations engaged in research and development like the UP Engineering and Research and Development Foundation where he is presently still a member of the Board of Trustees, and the Forum Research and Educational Center.
He has also been a recipient of various awards most notable of which is the Outstanding Achievement Award for Government Service conferred on him by the UP Alumni Engineering in November 2012.