PH Mission to ASEAN Hosts “Empowered by Passion” Forum

JAKARTA 17 December 2018 – To celebrate women empowerment and support gender and development initiatives, the Philippine Permanent Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hosted the “Empowered by Passion: A Gender and Development Forum” in Jakarta on 05 December 2018.

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 Jakarta-based Café De Manila and Muffin House owner Avelyn Santiago; co-founder of Barong Batik, a business that fuses the Philippine barong fabric with Indonesian Batik design, Thelma Victorio; 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, Titya Sumarsono; and an author who recently launched her book “JOURNEYS: The Rosary in the Lives of Wandering Women,” Dorothy Delgado-Novicio.

Permanent Representative to ASEAN Elizabeth P. Buensuceso 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

For more information, visit http://www.jakartapm.dfa.gov.ph/ or https://www.facebook.com/PHMissionJakarta.