Makati City - The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) joins the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) at the Gender & Diversity Summit held on 19 September 2025, at the Makati Diamond Residences.

ILS Officer-in-Charge Deputy Executive Director Miraluna S. Tacadao represented the Institute. She discussed the international and local commitments, gender perspectives in labor studies, and highlighted the Department of Labor and Employment's programs on diversity and inclusion in workplaces.

"Following the priority pillars of the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan 2023-2028, the DOLE developed its DOLE GAD Agenda 2023-2028 in 2024, outlining the Department’s plan toward attaining full, decent, productive, and inclusive employment through provision of strategies and outline programs and activities directed at addressing gender-related labor and employment issues," she emphasized.

OIC-DED Tacadao also highlighted the importance of policy enforcement in workplaces, advocacy, education and communication, partnerships and stakeholder consultations, data collection, and institutionalizing reporting mechanisms, in gender and diversity mainstreaming in the private sector.

The panel of speakers also included Ms. Marie Gad Hansen, Director of the Global Development and Sustainability Confederation of Danish Industry; Ms. Anita E. Baleda, Deputy Executive Director for Operations of the Philippine Commission on Women; and Atty. Richie Avigale A. Ramos-Pilares, Senior Partners at Divina Law. The forum was moderated by Ms. Marie Aubrey J. Villaceran, PhD, Director of the University of the Philippines, Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

Also in attendance were Danish Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark to the Philippines and Palau Franz-Michael Skjold Melbin and Mr. Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr., President of ECOP.

The program concluded with the Philippine Employers' Pledge for Progress, where attendees committed their support in advancing diversity and inclusion in workplaces.

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