Leaders, professionals to tackle poverty, nation building

MANILA, Philippines - Movers and shakers from the fields of law, business, government and health come together to share their stories in their crusade against poverty at the Ateneo Professional Schools Sesquicentennial Congress, on Friday, Oct. 9, at the Ateneo Professional Schools Rockwell Campus, Rockwell Center, Makati City.

This event is the major contribution of the four Ateneo Professional School units — Law School, Graduate School of Business, School of Government and School of Medicine and Public Health — to the Ateneo de Manila University’s celebration of its 150th anniversary. Participants will engage in sessions that address the congress theme, “Building the nation by attacking the poverty challenge through building capacity of individuals and institutions.”

From 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 19 transformative leaders from government, NGOs and business will share their personal journeys and messages, highlighting capacity building as a way of addressing the poverty challenge in their own spheres. This will be done in three concurrent sessions tackling three perspectives: governance and leadership, mobilizing communities, and entering into each other’s worlds.

The congress also aims to move the participants to actively respond to the challenge of attacking poverty by signing up with projects displayed at the exhibit booths. The booths will carry material on the congress itself, the story teller messages and the congress perspectives actualized, as well as sign-up forms for professionals who are interested in engaging more concretely in the work of social change.

Congress speakers who will share their stories include: Mayor Sonia Lorenzo (San Isidro, Nueva Ecija), Vice Mayor Valentin Yap (Bindoy, Negros Occidental), Mr. Pilplawan Naga (MPM-Lanao del Sur), Dr. Eduardo Morato (Asian Center for Entrepreneurship), Atty. Rene Bañez (PLDT & Smart), Theary Seng (Center for Social Development, Cambodia), Dr. Jessica Salas (Kahublagan Sang Panimalay Foundation), Lydia Enrile (CSR Institute), Norman Eusebio (Microtel), Austregelina Perocho (Leaders for Health Program, General Luna, Surigao del Norte), Atty. Carlos Medina Jr. (Ateneo Human Rights Center), Atty. Marlon Manuel (Alternative Law Groups), Tony Meloto (Gawad Kalinga), Thereese Fernandez (Rags2Riches, Inc.), Feliciano Torres (Employers Confederation of the Philippines), Dr. Eugene Ramos (The Medical City), Dr. Pretchell Tolentino (MHO, Dinagat, Dinagat Province) and Dr. Allan Evangelista (former MHO, Catigbian, Bohol)

The APS Congress is part of Ateneo de Manila University’s three-year celebration, marking 150 years since the arrival of the Jesuits in the Philippines and the opening of the first Ateneo campus. Each celebratory year is marked with a theme. This year’s final theme is “Building the Nation.” It is with this theme that the APS units align with, as institutions that already actively transform professionals in major areas of engagement.

For more information about the Sesquicentennial Congress, visit www.ateneo.edu/apscongress