West Visayas State University considers diversity a beauty. To prove this, one of the activities of the ASEAN Day on August 27, 2021, was the more than 1-hour FaceBook livestreaming of different member-countries of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN-related initiatives by the third year students of Bachelor of Science in Development Communication (BSDC) and the selected fourth year students of the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (BAJ).

The Facebook livestream showcased these students’ outputs, facilitated and compiled by the University’s Center for International Linkages and Public Information (CILPI). The students of WVSU shared their knowledge about cultural diversity, connecting and converging ASEAN, and talked about how ideal it is to travel to the member-countries of ASEAN through series of virtual podcasts hosted by Bachelor of Science in Development Communication students Rose Coleen Rubio,  Reymart Eufracio, and Iris Arboleda. Also included was a video presentation on inclusivity, focusing on persons with disabilities by Cindy Jade Seares, also a BSDC student, and the different proposed communication plans and initiatives on promoting ASEAN to the world.

Fourth year Bachelor of Arts in Journalism students Jonar Dorado, Zennia Mirasol, and Ivy Pepito contributed to the ASEAN Day by making videos of the ASEAN hymn and facts about the ASEAN.

The Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN based in Jakarta Indonesia, Ambassador Noel Servigon sent his message to the WVSU community:  “…through these activities, we would further promote our sense of regional identity in the Southeast Asia”.  He expressed that he is looking forward to more engagements in the University through CILPI.

The WVSU ASEAN Day also had the Panel Discussion on Women in the ASEAN , with invited panelists from Thailand, Indonesia,Singapore, Philippines, and Lao PDR, and a guest from one of WVSU’s partner universities in Taiwan.# -Ivy Pepito/CILPI