PETA Asia-Pacific's panel of judges has cast their votes for the Proggy Awards, which recognize animal-friendly achievement in 21st century culture and commerce. The winners have helped people discover, access, and explore delicious vegan food options, trendy animal-friendly fashion, and outstanding cruelty-free beauty products.

This year's Proggy Award winners have gone above and beyond in PETA's eyes. By educating consumers about animal rights issues—and providing them with resources to help animals as well as alternatives to processes that hurt animals—recipients of the Proggy Awards are contributing to a more humane life for our entire society. Help us give a round of applause to the following Proggy Award winners for their initiative, creativity, passion, and desire to make a difference.

 

Best Variety of Cruelty-Free Products

Beauty Bar

Beauty Bar prides itself on showcasing innovative and non-traditional international brands of cosmetics, skin care and beauty products, but it also brings the Philippines the widest-range of cosmetics and body care products that aren't tested on animals. Brands include Smashbox, Earth Therapeutics, Shikai, Juice Beauty, Matthew James, Philosophy, The Body Collection, Watkins, Duwop, L'Occitane and Ziaja, among many others. There are 14 Beauty Bar Stores in Metro Manila, Baguio and Cebu.

Best Veggie-Friendly Bar

70's Bistro

Live music and great vegetarian food makes 70's Bistro "a home where you can be who you are". And you're lucky if "who you are" is a hungry vegan! The Philippines' most veggie-friendly bar offers a dish named for those who want to better their health and prevent cruelty to animals: Vegan R&B Spaghetti! The spaghetti—which is served with a sauce of tomatoes, tofu, and fresh herbs—is among fourteen other vegetarian (easily made vegan) sides and mains you can enjoy at 70's Bistro.

Best Animal-Friendly Scents

Scents & Blends

This Manila-based company offers non-animal tested perfumes in funky scents like Apple Raspberry and Love Spell. The company has stands in eight locations in Metro Manila including Gorietta 3, Robinsons Place Liba, and Alabang Town Center.

Best Veggie Burger

Good Burgers

A small street stand along E. Rodriguez Junior Avenue in Pasig city that offers the best veggie burger in the Philippines! Choose from a wide selection of vegan toppings and condiments to customize your burger for a very reasonable price.

Best Soy Ice-Cream

Pazzo Gelato in Rockwell

It's a sign of the times when an ice-cream shop offers dairy-free alternatives! Pazzo Gelato in Rockwell mall offers delicious soy-based, dairy-free, Italian-style gelato in three great flavors—vanilla, chocolate, or stracciatella (vanilla chocolate chunk). All varieties are lactose-free, so they're a good choice for Filipinos—about 90 percent of whom are lactose-intolerant. All of Pazzo's luscious fruit sorbets—of which there are a dozen great flavors—are also vegan.

Best Animal-Friendly Retailer

Bench

Beginning in 1987 with a small store selling men's t-shirts, Bench has grown to include a ladies' line, underwear, fragrances, houseware, snacks, and a wide array of other products. Bench is present in virtually every retail space in the Philippines, and has international outlets reaching as far as the United States, the Middle East, and China!

All the products in their haircare, fragrence and make-up lines are not tested on animals, and they offer great pleather wallets and bags! Bench shows that animal friendly products are mainstream!

Best Animal-Friendly Shoes and Bags

VNC

VNC started off as a Malaysian company, but has now expanded to eight stores in the Philippines. VNC sells fun and fashionable pleather shoes and bags, and absolutely no leather! The future is leather-free and VNC has already arrived!