Zen started working with the Commission on Audit (COA) right after college before joining civil society organizations (CSOs) such as the Church-based Bulacan Social Action Center (BUSAC). After that, she began working with the NGO (non-government organization) community which includes the Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI), Ecumenical Institute for Labor, Education and Research (EILER, Inc.), Childhope Asia-Philippines (CHAP), Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc. (WLB), Accion Contra El Hambre (Action Against Hunger) – Philippine Mission (ACH-Philippine Mission), Center for Asian Mission for The Poor – Asia (CAMP- Asia), Inc., Health Justice, Inc. (HJI), and Mother Earth Foundation (MEF).
Between regular full-time jobs, Zen worked freelance by, among others, conducting research on relocated urban poor communities and providing technical assistance in setting up a private educational institution in Bulacan. She also accepted engagements as a trainer on children’s rights and as a resource person on gender issues for the National Service Training Program (NSTP) of UP-Diliman.
Zen has extensive experience in development and humanitarian work as an NGO worker. She has immersed herself with Filipino farmers, workers, teachers, street children, women, Mindanao’s internally displaced people (IDPs), urban poor relocatees, health advocates, and environmentalists.
An accounting and law graduate, Zen is currently finishing her Master of Social Work degree at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. She views social work as a logical culmination of all her accumulated work experience with the public and private sectors, especially the development sector.