Prof. Pablito A. Baybado, Jr., PhD academic staff of the UST Institute of Religion, Theology Program Lead of the UST Graduate School, and lecturer at the UST Graduate School of Law, served as the lead expert in designing and facilitating the third iteration of the weeklong Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue Training for ASEAN government officials on 1–5 December 2025 at the Admiral Hotel in the City of Manila. Asst. Prof. Val Brillo, SThL, MPM, also from the Institute of Religion, joined Baybado as a regional expert. The whole team of experts and trainers included practitioners and academics from Indonesia, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, and Thailand.
The training aimed to deepen knowledge, shape attitudes, and strengthen skills among ASEAN government officials to lead and facilitate interreligious and intercultural dialogue in their respective contexts. Participants were also challenged to identify concrete ways to integrate IRD/ICD approaches into their departmental and ministerial programs, policies, and field operations.
The program combined indoor lectures, workshops, and dialogue-skills sessions with context-based learning activities. The intercultural immersion included visits to key historical sites in Intramuros and dialogue sessions with the Intramuros Administration and the curator of the San Agustin Museum. In addition, participants guided by regional experts were deployed to three major religious communities in Manila: Our Lady of Remedies Parish, the Manila Golden Mosque, and the Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, where they conducted community-based dialogue sessions.
According to Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU), who delivered the keynote address, the interreligious and intercultural dialogue training is a timely and valuable capacity-building initiative as the Philippines prepares for its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2026.
In highly diverse cultural and religious environments, strengthened partnerships between government institutions and religious communities are essential. Such collaboration remains a vital foundation for interreligious and intercultural dialogue, contributing to more robust regional mechanisms for peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and inclusive governance.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR) and the King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) organized the training.