The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN hosted “Empowered by Passion: A Gender and Development Forum” on 5 December 2018 in Jakarta to celebrate women empowerment and support gender and development initiatives.

The forum, which was organized in coordination with the ASEAN Women’s Circle of Jakarta, featured the success stories of Jakarta-based women, who turned their passions into meaningful endeavors.

The speakers were Ms. Avelyn Santiago – owner of Jakarta-based Café De Manila and Muffin House; Ms. Thelma Victorio – co-founder of Barong Batik, a business that fuses the Philippine barong fabric with Indonesian Batik design; Ms. Titya Sumarsono - founder of Project Mummy, a business that empowers local and marginalized women in villages in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to produce home fragrance products such as scented candles; and Ms. Dorothy Delgado-Novicio, an author who recently launched her book “JOURNEYS: The Rosary in the Lives of Wandering Women.”

Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, emphasized that the forum was in consonance with the spirit of Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women.

“The forum provided a platform to exchange meaningful ideas that support women’s empowerment and disseminate relevant information to potential women entrepreneurs,” Ambassador Buensuceso stressed. “The forum also demonstrated the continuing commitment of the Philippine government to promote women’s empowerment and gender and development.”

The event was attended by at least 80 representatives from the ASEAN Women’s Circle, ASEAN Secretariat, Filipino community, and the diplomatic corps in Jakarta. END