Rowena Guanzon

Guanzon was born to the Honorable Sixto Guanzon, or Don Sixto Guanzon, a Regional Trial Court judge (now retired) in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, and to the Honorable Elvira Villena Guanzon, or Doña Elvira Villena de Guanzon, a lawyer and former Cadiz City vice-mayor.[10] She comes from a landed and affluent family in Negros, the Guanzons,[11] who have been owners of sugar cane plantations or haciendas.[12][13]

Guanzon was appointed mayor of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental in the late 1980s by the first Aquino administration after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship and the end of the martial law years.[14] Upon completing her mandate as an appointed official, she ran for and was elected Cadiz City mayor (the same position she held as an appointee) in the 1988 Philippine Elections.

On March 8, 2013, she was appointed commissioner to the Commission on Audit (COA).[15]

On April 28, 2015, Guanzon was named a commissioner to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for a seven-year term, lasting until February 2022.[14]

Guanzon's published works include Issues and Problems in the Enforcement of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004, Philippine Law Journal (Dec 2008); Constitutional Challenges to the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004, Journal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (March 2009); The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act: Issues and Problems, Journal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; and Legal and Conceptual Framework of Battered Woman Syndrome as a Defense, Philippine Law Journal (Vol. 86, No. 1 December 2011).

The U.P. Law Center also published Guanzon's book, The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act Notes and Cases in 2014. Guanzon is currently writing textbooks on The Local Government Code for the University of the Philippines and The Auditing Code of the Philippines Casebook.