A FEMALE prosecutor in Cebu will receive this year’s Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship Award for Public Service.
Maria Liza Jorda, assistant city prosecutor, is being recognized for her work focused on violations of laws against human anti-trafficking, child abuse and violence against women.
She will receive the award in a luncheon hosted today by US Ambassador Philip Goldberg in the US Embassy in Manila.
Jorda is active in the Dept. of Justice’s Task Force against Trafficking in Region 8 based in Tacloban City, an area that is both a source and transit point for human trafficking.
“Her tenacity in pursuing human trafficking cases has brought her numerous death threats. In addition to her prosecutorial work, Fiscal Jorda speaks regularly to law enforcement and social welfare officers about these three major laws affecting women and children in the Philippines to encourage better implementation,” said the US Embassy in its invitation for the award rites.
“Fiscal Jorda was selected to receive the Aquino Fellowship because of her fearless and selfless work for women and children who have become victims of abuse and exploitation,” it said.
The US Embassy initiated the Aquino Fellows program in 1988 in collaboration with the Aquino Foundation to commemorate Sen. Ninoy Aquino’s contributions to the fields of journalism and public service.
After President Corazon Aquino’s passing in 2009, the fellowship was renamed “Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship for Professional Development” to honor her lifelong contributions to strengthening democratic institutions in the Philippines.