Of hope and a promise

Persistence is a trait hard to ignore, and when it comes to persistence my friend Ruby Villavicencio Paurom has put it to good use. On at least two occasions, she has succeeded to convince me and half-drag me to participate as a “lecturer” in two of her “media training” seminars for government agencies in spite of the “reduced fees” or the distance required for travelling.

While I appreciate and support the development and enhancement of skills of government employees, the sad reality is that government officials and agencies are “handcuffed” when it comes to paying professional rates based on current industry values. The other handicap of government agencies and institutions is that a number of them “need to,” or actually demand that a speaker, trainer, or lecturer must submit several certificates, MBAs etc. before being allowed to teach or train government employees.

In our imperfect world, many of those who mentored me in school did have a Masters Degree, an MBA and some even had a PhD or two. Ironically, many of those who had several degrees had very little or no experience whatsoever in the industry or any media outfit. In contrast many of my senior colleagues in media did not even graduate in Mass Communications, Journalism or Broadcasting. A couple of top rank radio personalities I know graduated in “Commerce,” some Political Science, etc.

So when it comes to real experience and training people for real life situations, whom do you go to? the multiple degree holders who never practiced what they preach or the self-made veteran? While this has been a perennial argument, I would submit that the choice is determined by the marketplace. We all have our role in the marketplace and government institutions must develop a healthy balance between those from the academe and real industry.

Unfortunately, while it may be easy to strike the balance in who to invite or sign up, it is far more difficult for government to loosen its purse strings to provide realistic compensation for private sector experts, trainers and lecturers. I don’t know if it requires an Act of Congress, an Executive Order or a COA resolution, but until government starts paying decent professional fees instead of peanuts, many of our deserving government employees will miss out from being taught by the best and the brightest in many industries and faculty.

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As I was saying, my friend Ruby managed to half drag me up to rainy, wet and foggy Tagaytay City over the weekend, and for the first time in my life I had a chance to see the Development Academy of the Philippines, more popularly known as DAP.

From the 1970s onwards, the DAP has transitioned in terms of purpose as well as image. Those who hated the Marcos regime referred to DAP as a brainwash center where they produced minions by design, those who understood its purpose and function believed they produced future managers, technocrats and professional civil servants. Some disdained the DAP for its perceived academic elitism in the early years, others deemed it a vain attempt to provide business school quality training for government employees. Perhaps it is because they did produce real leaders who transcended politics and ideology that the DAP has survived so many administrations and political upheavals.

This is not to say that the DAP has not gone without its own war wounds. Call it what you may but the DAP has gone from feast to famine in terms of funding and recognition, from prominence to being a distant facility struggling to survive. But persistence is also a character trait of DAP’s leadership. It stayed true north and did what it knew best, to train up government employees and turned them into government leaders.

As a result their efforts did not go unnoticed. During her term the late Emi Boncodin of the DBM provided funds to revitalize the facility. Under the new administration, then NEDA Director General Cayetano Paderanga continued to help the DAP after Emi Boncodin passed away. Now with the blessings of President Noynoy Aquino, the DAP has started to work on a multi-directional plan where the DAP strengthens its core competency and services by providing Masteral learning programs for supervisory and managerial level government employees.

I also learned from DAP President Tony Kalaw that the DAP is currently working on two programs; one to equip CEOs and Directors of government owned and controlled corporations in order to better prepare them for their jobs as well as to make them “Government Professionals” and not mere political appointees. On a separate track the DAP is now working with heads and officials of SUCs or State Universities and Colleges to upgrade the leadership and management skills in these institutions.

I don’t know if the DAP is “forced to” or simply developing additional income streams, but the facility is now open to the public and offers accommodations in the form of rooms or cottages at very reasonable rates. I guess they are simply maximizing usage of assets. Perhaps it is about time for many DAP graduates, associates, as well as business owners and leaders to discover or rediscover the Development Academy of the Philippines as an alternative to other expensive and elitist learning centers because that is what the DAP is, the equalizer that gives hope to government employees, and has kept its promise to turn them into leaders.

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