I write to Ms Governor of Antique and Mr President of St. Anthony's College with the following proposal:

1. The Government of the Province of Antique agree with St Anthony's College to make the Office of Provincial Development (Antique Provincial Development Office) become Academic Office instead of Political Office to be situated at St Anthony's College. As an Academic Office the Head of this Office is not only the Provincial Development Officer but also a Professor/Lecturer/Research Fellow who understands development processes and able to take actionable projects for Antique's development from start to finish without fear, favor, or political interference.

2, The Provincial Government may maintain a liaison office with St. Anthony's College to serve as clearing house between the two institutions and as communications channels. The heavy lifting is to be done at St Anthony's College. And expenditure currently allocated to Provincial Development office should be transferred to St Anthony's College in the form of endowment or similar arrangement.

3. In addition, this liaison office in the Provincial Government may continue to deal directly with the National Govenment as it is currently done and has been the practice in the past.

4. The good thing about this is that resources available in the Academia in St. Anthony's College like research facilities, student fellowships programs, research fellowship programs, etc., can be made to bear upon the myriad and complex activities involve in development programs. Being an Academic institution St Anthony's College has the integrity and capability; and therefore the trust and confidence of Academic communities around the free world to undertake development planning and implementation processes. It can also seek assistance from dozens and dozens of Academic and International institution around the free world should the requirements arise.

5. Another remarkable thing about the above idea is I anticipate that Antique Province will benefit in the economic aspect as it brings expertise to congregate at St Anthony's College in terms of visiting Professors and Lecturers which may be mainly funded by the sponsoring Academic and International Organizations.

6. At this point, I believe as in the past, the inteligence and ideas of Provincial Development comes from a central research institution in Manila, mainly the University of the Philippines. The problem here is the ideas coming out of this arrangement is the philosophy that "one size fits all". Antique and every province for that matter has unique characteristics and must be evaluated for these unique characteristics before the right and efficient solutions are presented and acted upon. Of course, UP Professors, Lecturers, or Researches may be invited to come to St. Anthony's College and do their thing. In this way, we bring to bear and match the resources to solve directly the problems where it is happening. We also bring our local Academic expertise at St. Anthony's College to come together in a physical and intellectual sense with the outside ideas. Ideas do always change because change is one permanent aspect of ideas.

7. We have tried the same thinking over and over again in the past hoping that it will yield different results for the better. Sadly, the results have always been predictable, namely, that many of our dreams for a better life eludes more and more of our people.

So, Ms Governor and Mr President, I hope that with this note, you will consider the points of this letter.

Just thinking louder.


Respectfully yours,


Sumakwell

I started my vocation in rural development with the Provincial Planning and Development Office (then called the Provincial Development Staff or PDS). When I was still there, the Antique PDS, under the leadership of the late Engr. Silvestre Nava, was well-respected both within the province and outside, even as far as Washington D.C. In seminars, trainings, and conferences, we consistently had the best outputs despite our long beer sessions in the evening (or maybe all those drinking accounted for the quality of our outputs hahahaha). Our projects were generally better implemented than those in other provinces and we were in the forefront of poverty alleviation and community-based development in the whole country.

Engr. Nava died in the mid-nineties and things started to go downhill with PDS (already called PPDO following the Local Government Code of 1991). Although I was already with the ANIAD (Antique Integrated Area Development) Project at that time, I remained familiar with the ongoings inside PPDO. So I knew about the demoralization that set in and grew worse over time.

There are many good people in PPDO but the office itself has become marginalized. It has ceased to be a significant influence in formulating the development agenda of the province. It has failed to temper political patronage in project identification with solid technical criteria. A few critical appointments turned out to be major disappointments and they did not at all help the office but instead worsened its drift and the factionalism within.

Still I feel that the suggestion of transferring the functions of PPDO to an office within SAC is not a good idea. (Planning within SAC is not that great either.) It is still possible to cleanse and re-engineer PPDO, strengthen the planning process to insulate it to some degree from political patronage, and get the entire provincial leadership and bureaucracy to acknowledge a stronger role for PPDO.

I do agree however with the idea of having an independent local development think-tank that can complement PPDO. Some of the people in that think-tank can come from SAC.

Goldie said in ->

->I started my vocation in rural development with the Provincial Planning and
->Development Office (then called the Provincial Development Staff or PDS).

OK.

->When I was still there, the Antique PDS, under the leadership of the late
->Engr. Silvestre Nava, was well-respected both within the province and outside,
->even as far as Washington D.C. In seminars, trainings, and conferences, we
->consistently had the best outputs despite our long beer sessions in
->the evening(or maybe all those drinking accounted for the quality of our
-> outputs hahahaha).Our projects were generally better implemented than
->those in other provinces and we were in the forefront of poverty
->alleviation and community-based development in the whole country.

I know and say without hesitation how good and true to form PDS was when it was started and managed by Engr. Nava. Engr. Nava was a friend and I could say I'm one of those who knew him well.

I'll also agree with the drinking bit as I make it a point to have a bottle of beer or a glass of red wine before I cook just to kick start the cooking genius in me; but my wife will disagree with me on the "cooking genius" bit.

->Engr. Nava died in the mid-nineties and things started to go downhill with PDS
->(already called PPDO following the Local Government Code of 1991). Although
->I was already with the ANIAD (Antique Integrated Area Development) Project
->at that time, I remained familiar with the ongoings inside PPDO. So I
->knew about the demoralization that that set in and grew worse over time.

God rest his soul.

OK, we now refer to PPDO instead of PDS.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not judgemental on the performance or non-performance of PPDO. In my previous letter, I'm simply saying transfer the science of developing ideas and solutions of Provincial Development from a Political Office to Academic Office. I have good reasons to say so later on. It so happens that the only Academic Institution in Antique that fits my idea of Academic Office is St. Anthony's College.

And I'll list some more reasons why I suggested the transfer:

1. PPDO being a government department or office has resources that are limited and confined to the same set of people over a period of time. PPDO have tenured staff. Good or bad the same pool of ideas will stay with the department for some time and these ideas will tend to be confined, limiting, and static.

2. Academic Office has far more broader and diversified staff resources with a large pool of ideas around to be tapped. They have local and foreign students, local and visiting researchers, fellows, local and visiting Professors and Lecturers. This large pool of ideas are constantly replinish because students, researches, fellows, Professors, and Lecturers come and go. So ideas tend to be open, dynamic, and progressive.

->There are many good people in PPDO but the office itself has
->become marginalized. It has ceased to be a significant influence
->in formulating the development agenda of the province. It has failed
->to temper political patronage in project identification
->with solid technical criteria. A few critical appointments turned
->out to be major disappointments and they did not at all help the
->office but instead worsened its drift and the factionalism within.

These good people could move to the Academic Office as part of the initial endowments.

When you have staff which do not perform as expected like you mentioned it can be dealt with appropriately. This is an operational problem and can be handled operationally and properly.

->Still I feel that the suggestion of transferring the functions of PPDO
->to an office within SAC is not a good idea. (Planning within SAC is not
->that great either.) It is still possible to cleanse and re-engineer
->PPDO, strengthen the planning process to insulate it to some degree
->from political patronage, and get the entire provincial
->leadership and bureaucracy to acknowledge a stronger role for PPDO.

It is not only the Political bias which is a problem. It is also the structural problem.

The Academic Office has a structural advantage in the sense that it has larger pool of ideas available to it, in addition to being open, dynamic, and progessive.

Also, SAC is large and major idea resource with integrity and credibility. It's being left untapped. Let's make use of it.

->I do agree however with the idea of having an independent local
->development think-tank that can complement PPDO. Some of the people
->in that think-tank can come from SAC.

Good.

sumakwell wrote:

QUOTE:
Goldie said in ->

The Academic Office has a structural advantage in the sense that it has larger pool of ideas available to it, in addition to being open, dynamic, and progessive.

Also, SAC is large and major idea resource with integrity and credibility. It's being left untapped. Let's make use of it.

->I do agree however with the idea of having an independent local
->development think-tank that can complement PPDO. Some of the people
->in that think-tank can come from SAC.

Good.

pwede man ako ka sugpon nong sumakwell and nong goldie???

in this part of your discussion will it be possible to make use of all ideas gathered in different larger schools of antique?

collaborating with the research team in each schools and compare suggestions and analysis to come up with the best plan in helping our province via the PPDO department.

MeTeam wrote in ->

->pwede man ako ka sugpon nong sumakwell and nong goldie???

Pwede gid man. Ang tu-yo nga mapukaw ang mga ideas kang tanan
tanan para maka tugda-tugda.

->in this part of your discussion will it be possible to make use
->of all ideas gathered in different larger schools of antique?

Absolutely. Let's canvass all possible ideas and use them for
the benefit of Antique.

Let's make everyone feel and realise that each one has something
to contribute and make. More heads are better than one. But we
must accept that some ideas may be useful and some may be set
aside.

->collaborating with the research team in each schools and compare
->suggestions and analysis to come up with the best plan in helping
->our province via the PPDO department.

Good suggestion. The PPDO is the collector and crystalizer of
ideas from all different sources mainly the Antiqueno Institutions.

By making PPDO an Academic Office, it will bring Science and
Technology to the day to day activities of Antiquenos on top
of the benefits that I have previously cited.

Let's face it, only the Antiquenos can help themselves. Let's
move from this attitude that a white knight will appear from
somewhere in the horizon as our saviour.

For as long as we continue to slice and dice Antique Society into
adversarial groups, it will be difficult to move forward in my
view.

Antiquenos have got talent, too. We just need leadership that's
inclusive, moral, ethical, and open.

sumakwell wrote:

QUOTE:
MeTeam wrote in ->

->pwede man ako ka sugpon nong sumakwell and nong goldie???

Pwede gid man. Ang tu-yo nga mapukaw ang mga ideas kang tanan
tanan para maka tugda-tugda.

->in this part of your discussion will it be possible to make use
->of all ideas gathered in different larger schools of antique?

Absolutely. Let's canvass all possible ideas and use them for
the benefit of Antique.

Let's make everyone feel and realise that each one has something
to contribute and make. More heads are better than one. But we
must accept that some ideas may be useful and some may be set
aside.

->collaborating with the research team in each schools and compare
->suggestions and analysis to come up with the best plan in helping
->our province via the PPDO department.

Good suggestion. The PPDO is the collector and crystalizer of
ideas from all different sources mainly the Antiqueno Institutions.

By making PPDO an Academic Office, it will bring Science and
Technology to the day to day activities of Antiquenos on top
of the benefits that I have previously cited.

Let's face it, only the Antiquenos can help themselves. Let's
move from this attitude that a white knight will appear from
somewhere in the horizon as our saviour.

For as long as we continue to slice and dice Antique Society into
adversarial groups, it will be difficult to move forward in my
view.

Antiquenos have got talent, too. We just need leadership that's
inclusive, moral, ethical, and open.

Agree nong sumakwell, theirs a lot of smart and talented antiquenos hidden in different parts of antique not to mention the one's abroad..

By tapping the ideas of these people, great and feasible plans will evolve..

It's time that we antiquenos work hand and hand to save our province and improved the livelihood of our kababayans..