Asean CSR

Ray Paulo Santiago

Executive Director, Ateneo Human Rights Centre

Ray Paolo (Arpee) J. Santiago is the Secretary-General of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (Working Group). The Working Group is recognized in the ASEAN (ASEAN of Southeast Asian Nations) Charter as an “Entity Associated With ASEAN.” It has been working with ASEAN on issues of human rights institution-building and has been instrumental in the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC).

Arpee was also appointed as Legal Consultant and an Assistant to the Philippine Representative to the High Level Task Force set-up by ASEAN that drafted the ASEAN Charter and later on as an Assistant to the Philippine Representative to the High Level Panel that drafted the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. He was one of the human rights experts consulted by the AICHR in the drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.

Arpee is also the Executive Director of Ateneo Human Rights Center which is the Secretariat of the Working Group. AHRC is based at the Law School of the Ateneo de Manila University. He is active in litigation involving cases affecting vulnerable groups, particularly women, children, urban poor, and peasants; policy research and analysis (e.g. human rights, women and children’s issues, local governance and administration of justice issues); networking, fundraising, and supervision of programs; editing publications; organizing and facilitating national and international seminars; drafting laws and lobbying for legislative reforms; and giving lectures on human rights, women and children’ rights and governance topics to local and national officials, military/police personnel, legislative staff, lawyers and law students, NGOs, religious groups, teachers, and vulnerable groups throughout the country. Arpee is a Lecturer of the Law School, teaching Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Clinical Legal Education, Legal Writing, Legal Profession, Law on Sales and Constitutional Law 2. He is also a Lecturer at the Institute of Law of the Far Eastern University. He has been a recipient of the Freedom Flame Award of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (2014) and the inaugural ASEAN Peoples Award (2015).

Arpee took up his Bachelor of Arts Degree Major in Public Administration at University of the Philippines and Juris Doctor Degree at Ateneo de Manila University.

Jerry Bernas 

Program Director, ASEAN CSR Network

Jerry Bernas has over 14 years of experience in the fields of corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, corporate communications and stakeholder relations. He currently resides in Singapore and serves as Program Director of the ASEAN CSR Network, a regional organisation formed to promote CSR and sustainability in support of ASEAN Community integration. He oversees a portfolio of projects under the ‘ASEAN CSR Vision 2020’ initiative, is responsible for managing partner and donor relationships, and regularly delivers lectures and presentations on topics related to CSR such as business and human rights, anti-corruption and stakeholder engagement. Jerry holds a Business Management degree from Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the National University of Singapore, specializing in business strategy and organization.

Dr. Isabel Sim

Senior Research Fellow, Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS
Director (Projects), Centre for Social Development (Asia)

Isabel was Senior Lecturer at the Department of Strategy and Policy, NUS Business School where she held a joint appointment as Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO). She served as the principal consultant for Singapore’s Governance & Transparency Index (GTI) and as a member of the corporate governance experts’ panel to the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard from 2012 to 2014. She obtained her PhD in Finance from The University of Western Australia.