CEBU CITY (Philippines News Agency) — Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday received the "Most Influential Filipina Woman of the World Award" from the non-government organization Filipina Women's Network (FWN).
Robredo received the award during the 13th Filipina Leadership Global Summit organized by the FWN in Cebu. The vice president was also the keynote speaker at the summit.
She received the award under the "Nicole" category which "honors Filipino women whose words, actions and activism inspire others to act and revolutionize society’s way of understanding traditional beliefs and customs, thus leaving behind a Filipino global imprint," the FWN said.
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In her speech at the summit, Robredo urged the FWN members to spread women empowerment to change the face of the society.
She said the Filipina of today is "more powerful, more accomplished, more emphatic and more socially aware than ever before."
"We are not here to rule the world. We are about creating the world where despots and heroes are no longer needed, so that each one of us can be a hero," she added.
Robredo said women empowerment is one of the five areas that the Office of the Vice President has vowed to prioritize.
The other four areas that her office plans to zero in are hunger and food security, rural development, education and public health.
She said one strategy her office is implementing is economic empowerment or giving women power over their ability to earn a living.
The vice president admitted that her office has very little funds.
"But in this work, we have discovered that it is not the money per se that can transform society. It is transparency, trust and governance," she said.
"It is the ability to convene and inspire. It is the mandate to step back, look at the gaps and figure out how to maximize our joint resources to fill up those gaps. It is clarity of vision and focus," she said.
Robredo, aside from being the summit keynote speaker, was in Cebu City Tuesday to lead the distribution of certificates of title to beneficiaries of the Community Mortgage Program.