Four professional staff members of the Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines have begun their master’s program at Ateneo de Manila School of Government (ASoG) under the DA-SEARCA  Umbrella Capacity Development Program on Strategic Management and Policy for Agriculture Professionals and Executives.

They are the first batch to do so under this four-year Program that  aims to produce a cadre of homegrown, world-class career bureaucrats who can competently and proactively steer the Philippine Government's agriculture program.

The scholars are all pursuing the Master in Public Management program. They are:

• Mr. Joselito F. Bernabe, Statistician I, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)-Operations Center, Rizal
• Mr. Nazario C. Briguera, Aquaculturist I, Fisheries Policy and Economics Division, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
• Mr. Joseph C. Manicad, Statistician I, BAS-Operations Center, Lucena City
• Ms. Juvylee D. Obice, Accountant II, Department of Agriculture Region IV-A Calabarzon.

The Program provides support to selected junior and mid-level DA professional staff who are pursuing fulltime or part-time graduate studies on any of the following fields of specialization: strategic leadership and public management, development economics and agricultural policy, and agricultural business and trade and investment, which are all in support of food security and rural poverty alleviation.

Aside from ASoG, the DA-SEARCA scholars may also study at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) School of Management and the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics. At UAP, scholars may pursue either Master in Food Systems Management or Executive Master in Business Management (Strategic Business Economics Program). On the other hand, scholars may pursue either Master in Development Economics or PhD in Economics at UP.

In addition to the graduate scholarships, the DA-SEARCA Capacity Development Program carries out the DA Lecture Forum Series and other learning events that enable DA executives and professional staff to interact with experts and peers in order that they may have the ability to stay on top of current and emerging agricultural development and policy issues as well as be informed of available science-based solutions.