Extraction of bioactive components from natural sources has recently gained interest due to their medicinal benefits. Jute or "saluyot," a fast-growing perennial herb abundant in the Philippines, is known to have high nutritive value and is good source of phenolic compounds. This study focused on the optimization of the ultrasound-assisted extraction of the antioxidant phenolic compounds from red jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) using aqueous ethanol. Characterization of fresh jute leaf samples showed that jute leaf contains 84.52 0.00% w/w moisture, 3.81 0.98% w/w extractives, 11.67 0.98% w/w total solids and total phenolic content (TPC) of 17.72 0.36 mg garllic acid equivalent (GAE)/gram bone dried leaves (gdl). Screening of the five factors (extraction temperature, extraction time, particle size, solid to solvent ratio and ethanol concentration) showed that extraction temperature, extraction time and ethanol concentration significantly affected TPC of the extracts. Likewise, the interaction of particle size and ethanol concentration (negative effect) is significant. The optimum conditions were found to be 50 C extraction temperature, 20 min extraction time and 69.037% ethanol using suggested quadratic equations obtained through the models generated via Central Composite Design. Optimum TPC was 15.08 0.03 mgGAE/gdl and and optimum percent recovery was 85.11 0.17%. Small interest differences (0.80% both) with respect to predicted suggest high desirability of the model equations. The high recovery of phenolic compounds with the aid of ultrasonication even at one extraction cycle is therefore proven to be significant, suggesting the potential of jute as source of phenolic compounds.