CHAIRPERSON

Lota Bertulfo was born and raised in Cebu, but moved to Manila for further studies and work opportunities. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of San Carlos in Cebu and took master’s studies in Social (Community) Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City. An active student leader, she helped lead the students’ co-operative (reputedly, the first of its kind in the Philippines) on campus, facilitated social justice awareness workshops, and led the production of a students’ association newsletter.

She has more than 30 years’ experience in international development working mainly as a consultant for multilateral agencies and donors supporting development projects in Asia, Africa, Central America, Eastern Europe and the Pacific islands. As an international development professional, she provided technical services and advice in project design and planning, monitoring, and evaluation, mostly on the themes of women’s economic empowerment and leadership development, gender equality, and social inclusion. Outside of paid work, she’s a staunch advocate of gender equality in her involvement in community issues. Her work and involvement have given her the opportunity to visit and interact with local people in close to forty (40) countries and lived in Indonesia and Nepal aside from the Philippines and Canada. She and her family moved to Canada in 2005 although she had been a Permanent Resident since 2000. She currently resides in a suburb of Ottawa.

Despite her full time work as a consultant, Lota has always set aside time to be connected with the Filipino community in all the countries she lived in and in some of the countries she visited, meeting them in churches, their homes, or community events. She joined the PCC Board in 2018 taking on the responsibility as Board Secretary, then Vice-Chairperson for Internal Affairs, later as Chairperson. She has retired full-time from paid work in March 2026.