2016

#Working for the Future We Want

Dean Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza

Delivered on 4 January 2016 at the NCPAG Dome

  1. The Future We Want

After a long process of revisiting our Vision Statement, we have finally agreed that the future we want is a National College of Public Administration and Governance that is:

“The center of excellence in Public Administration education, research and extension, that provides multi-disciplinary knowledge and learning, develops leaders and change agents, and promotes good governance towards a just, humane and peaceful world.”

We are the center of excellence in Public Administration in the country as we are the premier, the leading, and the pioneer in the Philippines. The Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines (ASPAP) looks up to us as the trailblazer, the first and the innovator. But today ushers in the new normal that assumes that what worked before may not work again. And what we have been may not always remain and be sustainable. We are in the 21st Century after all and the world is getting smaller and flatter. We are supposed to have been one ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. That was last year, but have we been integrated?

We have been providing multi-disciplinary knowledge and learning, not only to our students but also more importantly to other stakeholders, the publics beyond the walls of the classroom. As an eclectic field of study and practice, we have been a resource hub for scholars, academics, policymakers, and officials of the government and also of the non-government agencies. We have trained public servants and change agents. We have shaped the minds of future and present leaders. But many are still asking, have we contributed significantly to make our country a better place to live in? And as the plan of action for the post 2015-MDG now the SDGs, have we really not left out anyone in the road to recovery, modernization and development?

As the NCPAG, much is expected of us and we have to deliver.

  1. Our Accomplishments So Far

In our little ways, we have done much. Ang Utak at Puso ay ating ginamit upang tayo ay maging halimbawa o exemplar of good governance leadership and practice in the service of the nation and the world. We have engendered the culture of excellence in academic instruction, research, publication, knowledge sharing, capacity building and institutional reform. We have enflamed the passion and commitment to be the best we can be in anything we do. More importantly, we are happy and joyful of what we are doing for the College, the University and the country. Sa lahat nang mga ito, salamat sa inyong lahat. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, advocacy and engagement to exemplary public service.

Education:

We thank our CPAGE Directors, Drs. Lily Domingo, Noriel Tiglao and Eva Baylon, and staff, for helping us achieve the following in 2015:

  • Last year, for the first time, our quota of 70 UPCAT qualifiers for our BPA/BAPA program was filled! In the past, we took in only 3 to 7 to 13 to 17 freshies who qualified in the UPCAT. And to fill in our quota, we took in more shiftees from other programs in UP Diliman or transferees from other constituent universities (CUs) of UP or from other colleges. The downside is that for this year until 2017, with the implementation of K-12, we may not have much qualifiers as there will be no graduates of senior high yet to take the UPCAT. This year, for example, of the 1,500 or so qualifiers for all CUs of UP and 800+ for UPD, less that 5 may enroll in the BPA/BAPA. We may resort to the S and T1/T2 again to fill in our quota.
  • We have also continued giving Cash Incentives to our students presenting research papers at international conferences. At least 25 BPA, MPA and DPA students have been granted incentives for 2015.
  • We have started revising our BPA, MPA and DPA curricula to make them more relevant, responsive and effective.
  • We have continued our academic partnership with universities in Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan. We have forged partnership with Vietnam and we will explore collaboration with Taiwan, Singapore and the USA.
  • We have been organizing the NCPAG Research Colloquium and the NCPAG Guest Lecture Series (8th in the series was the NCPAG anniversary talk of Dr. Raymund Narag on the correctional justice administration).
  • We have released the DPA and MPA Student Handbook.

Research and Publication:

We thank our faculty, REPS and our Publications Office (director Faina Diola and staff) for the following milestones:

  • We launched last year Vol. 1 of the Introduction to Public Administration in the Philippines: A Reader. It is the 3rd edition of the Reader and edited by Profs. Reyes, Tapales, Domingo and Villamejor-Mendoza. The 1st and 2nd editions were printed in 1993 and 2003. Vol. 2 will be launched this year, if not end of January, mid-February 2016.
  • We have started subscribing our Philippine Journal of Public Administration (PJPA) to the Scopus-index, in preparation for the eventual International Scientific Index (ISI) accreditation. The Publications Office has released the following issues last year: 2011 volume, numbers 1&2; 2012 volume, numbers 1 & 2; 2013 volume, numbers 1 &2. The 2014 volume, numbers 1 & 2 will be released this month; volume 2015, numbers 1 & 2 by March and hopefully by the end of 2016, we are already updated with an advance issue for 2017. Hopefully by then, our membership status with the Philippine Social Science Council will be reactivated and our application for ISI will progress.
  • The College has bumper harvest of research papers presented by faculty, staff and students at international conferences organized by our networks, e.g., the PSPA, KAPA, AAPA, EROPA, and other academic partners. Some 7-15 faculty and staff were granted RDGs and some 25 students were given Cash Incentives.
  • Researches conducted by the College (faculty, staff and centers) were at least 30 on such topics as climate change mitigation, client satisfaction, assessment of the 4Ps, assessment of decentralization, ARTA, social network, open government, participatory budgeting, etc.

Extension:

We should thank CLCD, CPED and CLRG (Dirs. Mina Cabo, Ebie Florano and Erwin Alampay and their staff) for conducting the numerous capacity building training and other programs for our publics in the academe, public and private as well as NGO sectors in such areas as:

  • #chooseright election education forum series; campaign finance
  • Research, Policy Analysis, Project Management and Development
  • Capacity Building for NCIP
  • DLEC, HBDC and other capacity building programs for local government officials and public servants
  • Organizing in celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of Quezon City, the international conference on Future Perfect
  • Organizing a lecture series on local governance, in celebration of the CLRG’s 50th founding anniversary;
  • Organizing an international workshop for local government institutes, with the Local Government Initiatives Network (LOGIN) and the Cnetr for Industrial and Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP);
  • ASPAP-NCPAG Continuing Public Administration and Governance Education Program

We should also thank the NCPAG Student Council (led by its Chair, Kirtham Dumpa and Olan Junio, and the SC Adviser, BPA Program Chair Del Flores) for designing the parol that won 3rd place in the December 2015 Lantern Parade!

Ako po ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa inyong lahat. Hindi natin magagawa ang mga ito kung hindi tayo nagkaisang magtulungan at gawin ang nararapat.

  1. What Else Should We Do: The Priorities for 2016

The tasks ahead are daunting to say the least. We should continue our best efforts, our momentum towards ‘higher’ excellence in PA education, research and extension, with a smile in our hearts and the will, conviction and passion to work for the future we want.

  • Let us work for recognition as center of excellence. We should not be saying we are “the” center of excellence. We should earn the trust and respect of others not only because we are the premier, the pioneer, the leader but more so because we have really been performing at par with the world standards or the best standards. We should make our systems better, our curricula state of the art, and our facilities world-class. We should continue our quality assurance systems. And have the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) or the International Standards Organization (ISO) recognize our efforts. For 2016, let’s try working to be a Center of Excellence (COE) by CHED.
  • Let us improve our curricular offerings and let us hope the Committees will work for the more relevant recommendations for improving and revising our undergraduate and graduate programs, at par with the best of the world.
  • Let us internalize and embrace the habit discipline of at least one paper for presentation at international conference, and one publication per year so we can continue sharing our bright ideas to others and contribute policy advice whenever needed. Let our engagement with the Ombudsman, the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Commission on Audit (COA) Governance Commission for GOCCs, the Department of Budget and Management, the Office of the President, the House of Representatives be more proactive and productive so that reforms and good governance will be more in place in our bureaucracy and systems.
  • Let us engage more in the assessment of the record and legacy of the Aquino III administration since this is his last semester. Let us also engage in voters’ education and other campaigns to educate the voters, the candidates and the general public on matters concerning political development and elections in May 2016.
  • Let us work for a textbook/book writing project to reposition our niche in the PA discipline.
  • Let us minimize being future-blind in terms of our facilities and equipment, despite resource constraints. Let us work for the completion of our infrastructure projects (PARDEC and NCGG, plus Library, Case room and canteen) and harness our alumni for their financial and other support. These infrastructure projects entail big amount of money-hovering from 27-156 million pesos and let us hope-Sana lang huwag silang makulong!
  • As expected, we should be working on the internationalization of our programs, systems and processes. We may explore working with the best PA colleges in the ASEAN and collaborate on joint academic programs or researches.

All these we can do, together as one big happy NCPAG family.

Let us have a happier, more productive 2016 so that the future we want for NCPAG and our country will be achieved in our lifetime.

Magandang umaga sa lahat. Manigong Bagong Taon!


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