AB International students from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University took part in the First Model ASEAN for Young Women held at Miriam College, Quezon City on August 18-20, 2015.
The conference was organized by the Department of International Studies and the Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) of Miriam College, in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the ASEAN Foundation.
The three-day conference gave the student-ministers a taste of diplomatic and negotiation exercises through simulated parliamentary procedures. It also provided a platform for students from different schools around the Philippines to simulate how ASEAN member-States gather and work together to examine pressing political, economic, socio-cultural issues confronting the region, particularly in the context of the ASEAN integration.
Ten higher education institutions from different parts of the Philippines were invited to send delegations to the conference. Each participating school represented one (1) ASEAN Member State and delegates act as representatives in various committees or bodies convened during the Conference. The ADZU Delegation represented the country of Brunei. The simulation program sought to foster dialogues among ASEAN youth by promoting awareness of Southeast Asian politics to bring to life the spirit of ASEAN diplomacy. It was also aimed at providing a forum for young people to further understand their country’s position on the most urgent and significant international and regional issues of our time and to contribute their own perspectives, viewpoints and insights as future leaders of our nation, the region, and the world.
The eight-member AdZU contingent was headed by Mr. Brian Joseph Bango, who served as the delegation’s faculty-adviser. Zarah Denise Rosos (the head of the student-ministers), Angelica May Dalis, Shareen Hayudini, Evanne-Rachelle Mandanas, Stephanie Faye Ricardel, Ayesha Saddaramil, and Leslie Ann Sua current junior and senior students of the AB-INTS program, were the members of the ADZU delegation.
Prior to the actual conference, the student-delegates underwent an intensive training in the rules of parliamentary procedure used in ASEAN Ministerial and Committee Meetings. No less than the Chair-Emeritus of Department of International Studies of Miriam College, Prof. Aurora B. Buncio, and Ms Mary Charity Durano, also of Miriam College, flew in from Manila to train the members of the ADZU delegation. They also underwent additional training in Speech and Argumentation (under Mr Ahmad Rais Undug), in Shariah Law (under Mr Nur Kadil), and a series of mentoring on policy papers under the guidance of Mr Bangoalso served to fortify the preparations of our delegates.
AdZU delegates were featured in a national daily and the ASEAN Press (the official publication of the ASEAN Foundation) spread.
