IS thesis on VAW desks receives 2025 ASCEND Excellence Award

This year’s ASCEND Excellence Award for College Thesis Individual Research was awarded to Yuki Patricia A Abion (AB Interdisciplinary Studies '25). She received the award for her thesis entitled, “Justice Lived and Negotiated: Examining the Perceptions and Landscape of Justice in Three Barangay Violence Against Women (VAW) Desks”.

Her faculty adviser is Mr Skilty C Labastilla, and her partner communities are Violence Against Women (VAW) Desk Officers and survivors in three barangays — two in Makati City and one in Marikina City.

Her work was commended for illuminating how community perspectives can reshape justice. The award was presented during the Ateneo Service Learning Conference (ASLC) and Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement For National Development (ASCEND) “Beyond the Common Good, Strive for the Common Good” held on 13 June 2025 at Escaler Hall.

In three local Violence Against Women (VAW) desks—two in Makati City and one in Marikina City—a study explored perceptions, definitions, and aspirations for justice. Drawing from kaleidoscopic justice, negotiated entitlements, and the Victimization and Justice framework, justice emerged as a pluralistic, iterative, and lived experience fraught by cultural, gendered, and institutional tensions. The research documents the complexities of justice at the community level, and highlights the need for justice that, beyond simply procedural adherence, upholds the dignity of victim-survivors. Recognizing these, a Tagalog-language guidebook, co-created with community respondents, proposes actionable recommendations, empowering grassroots actors toward more inclusive justice mechanisms.

Congratulations to the Awardee!

Watch a short video about her research: 

The University recognizes students whose work makes a significant impact through the Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement for National Development (ASCEND). This year, ASCEND honored senior high school, undergraduate, and graduate students based at the Loyola campus and the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health whose projects and research outputs demonstrated subject mastery and the capacity for synthetic thinking while meaningfully engaging communities beyond Ateneo in contributing to national development.

The ASCEND Excellence Award is given to outstanding individuals and groups of students whose project or research work demonstrates, in an extraordinary manner, all three of the following:

1. Extraordinary mastery of subject matter and application of synthetic thinking.
2. Deep and extensive engagement with partner communities and/or institutions.
3. Addresses a national development concern in a strongly strategic and/or creative manner with very significant short-term impact on target beneficiaries and/or the potential for significant longer-term impact in promoting the well-being of the greatest number.

You may access the Book of Abstracts here: https://go.ateneo.edu/2025ASLCASCENDBookofAbstracts

Photo courtesy of the 2025 ASCEND Official Photos and Yuki Abion.