The UP Asian Center will be holding the webinar "Entangled Interests: Past, Present, and Future of the Iran Crisis" on 11 March 2026, 2:00 - 4:00 PM, PST (GMT+8), online via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, but signing in to a (free) Zoom account is required.
ABOUT THE WEBINAR
The ongoing war and tension between the US and Iran have sparked a crisis with economic and geopolitical implications for the Philippines. Since the onset of the war, oil prices have risen due to blocked routes and a restricted flow of goods from the region, with a protracted war driving further increases. Subsequently, the increase in oil prices also directly affects the prices of common goods and commodities, such as food and electricity. In response to this, Iran has launched strikes in the Middle East. This directly affects the more than 1 million OFW workers in the region.
Apart from a more geopolitical focus, the war poses a threat to the country's economic security, particularly through overseas remittances from OFW workers. The seminar examines the current and future implications of the US-Iran war for the country, regional stability, the global economy, and overall international relations.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
HENELITO A. SEVILLA Jr., Ph.D.
Professor and Former Dean, Asian Center, UP Diliman
Prof. Henelito A. Sevilla, Jr is a Professor and a former Dean of the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. He obtained his Ph.D. in International Relations from Tehran University and MA in International Relations from Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran respectively. He founded and served as the current president of the Philippine-Middle East Studies Association (PMESA) as well as the Philippine-Iran Scientific and Cultural Society Incorporated (PICCS). He is responsible for reviving and coordinating the West Asia Studies program of the UP Asian Center since 2008 to present. He has written extensively on Middle East and Asia and have published in several local and international journals and books. He has been consulted by local and foreign media outlets about he the Philippines and Middle East and has been invited to talk in various international symposia, conferences and fora. He received several awards in his teaching, research and publication works as well as in his various community engagements to help people from marginalized sectors of the Philippine society.
EVANGELINE KATIGBAK-MONTOYA, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, De La Salle University Manila
Evangeline O. Katigbak-Montoya is a human geographer whose interest is in investigating transnational migrations, with a special focus on overseas Filipinos and their (non)migrant families. She obtained her Ph.D. in Geography from the National University of Singapore and afterwards worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University – National Institute of Education. Before leaving for Singapore for her academic pursuits, she studied at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) and finished her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geography and taught for several years at the Department of Geography.
HALUK KARADAG, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Baskent University, Türkiye
Assoc. Prof. Haluk Karadag, Ph.D. is a faculty at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Baskent University in Ankara, Türkiye. Previously, he served at the Department of International Relations, National Defense University. He studied as a visiting research fellow at the Department of Political Science, University of Florida, USA (2013-2014), Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa (2015), and the National Chengchi University in Taiwan (2023). He served in NATO missions in Kosovo (KFOR) and Afghanistan (RSM), and the United Nations mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL). His research interests are conceptual thinking on public diplomacy, security studies, and UN peacekeeping operations. Dr. Karadag has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and wrote the book Public Diplomacy: A New Dimension in International Relations (Nobel Publishing House).