Peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer leads the list of this month’s Asia’s Most Influential—together with advocates of sustainability and change
In fighting the good fight, these individuals have shown determination and strong will to achieve their goals and those of their fellow citizens. From public service to advocacies, these people have tirelessly devoted their time, efforts, and resources to help in the shaping of a better nation and inspire today’s generation to continue enlightening the path for a brighter tomorrow. Discover some of the Philippines’ impactful philanthropists, advocates, and public servants, who believe that real progress for the country means sacrificing one’s personal desires and coming up with real and sustainable solutions to some of the most pressing challenges we have been enduring as Filipinos.
Miriam Coronel-Ferrer
For decades, the armed conflict between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been a stone in the shoe of every Philippine President. But against all odds, like the global wave of Islamophobia and 9/11 terrorist attacks, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer knew there was a real need to push for an end to the conflict, she tells Tatler after receiving the prestigious 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Coronel-Ferrer earned her degree in philosophy with Latin honours from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1980. Later, she pursued her master’s degree in Southeast Asian studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury. She is a well-known academic, human rights expert and activist whose passion for being at the forefront of social change began in her student years. Besides being a political science professor in her alma mater, Coronel-Ferrer served as UP Third World Studies Center’s director and convenor of the Program on Peace, Democratization, and Human Rights of the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies. She founded and co-chaired the Non-State Actors Working Group of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner International Campaign to Ban Landmines and co-led the civil society-initiated drafting of the National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for women’s role in peacebuilding, protection from human rights violations, and gaining access to justice. Her appointment in 2012 as the chief negotiator of the government panel and signatory of a peace accord with the MILF was a milestone in her career. She is distinguished for being the first female in the position to have led the team that ended the 17-year-old negotiations with the MILF, capped off by the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro on March 27, 2014.