Local businesses and creative enterprises were featured as AKIBAT, AHRC’s Business and Human Rights Desk, organized its Business Expo 2026 at the Atrium in Ateneo Professional Schools, April 27 to 29. 

Focused on brands that also serve as spaces for advocacy, resilience, and shared responsibility, AKIBAT took on six local enterprises, including Panagbiag, Tinta sa Abaka, Binurdahan, DAR & DIANA MURILLO ART, and Silingan Coffee.

According to Marcial Fernando, AKIBAT Desk Head, highlighting such businesses in the Expo proves that “business and human rights can co-exist, and are not mutually exclusive”. Moreover, he noted that brands can thrive in their respective industries while empowering the rights of workers, consumers, and the general public.
“Businesses with human rights lens see the bigger picture or the whole context of development not only for their economic growth but also for the social and economic development of their employees, customers, and the general public. And that cements their place as a business or brand that not only delivers quality products or services, but promotes a humane and dignified process and outcome for everyone,” Fernando added.