Ateneo trains local officials as education champions

The Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) held recently the Visayas leg of the Champions for Good Governance and Education Leadership Training Program.

Conducted with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership (KN) and SEAOIL Philippines Inc., the program is part of initiatives to help improve the country’s educational situation.

The training aims to have at least 30 local government officials each from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao as participants, sharing stories on good governance and leadership and education reform to encourage local government leaders to develop their own innovative programs to address basic education needs in their respective communities.

Divided into three phases, the activity allows participants to listen to talks on leadership development, public education reform and social innovations, respectively, and learn best practices.

Through the program, the Ateneo School of Government and its partners aim to help develop a critical mass of local government officials from all over the country that will promote good governance and access to quality basic education for every Filipino child.

SEAOIL chief operating officer Stephen Yu said the program targeted local government leaders because “it will … be most effective to institute change through [local government units or LGUs] that people look up to … respect and depend on.”

Same objectives

He added that the program was aligned with the initiatives of the LGUs because one of their main concerns was educating their constituents.

Speakers, who shared their own stories of good governance and education reform, included former Isabela governor and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Grace Padaca, political satirist Mae Panera aka Juana Change, Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) head of research and project development Toix Cerna, and former Negros Occidental governor Lito Coscolluela, who is with the Gawad Galing Pook Foundation.

Coscolluela urged local government officials to be directly involved in the delivery of quality education “because it takes a whole village to educate a child and the LGU is key to that effort…. They need to be able to harness the entire community to help solve the problem.”

Given the government’s limited resources, Padaca stressed the importance of developing public-private sector partnerships to help solve social problems in their communities.

Better services

“Good governance, through transparency and public accountability, will be able to help us in curbing graft and corruption, which can lead to more efficient use of our resources and, eventually, better public services in education and health for our constituents,” said Padaca.

Among those who attended the Visayas leg of the programs were Mayors Rony Molina of San Jose, Antique; Nicomedes de los Santos of Alcoy, Cebu; Nicepuro Apura of Car-Car, Cebu; Annaliza Kwan of Guiuan, Eastern Samar; Candida Gabornes of Lawa-an, Eastern Samar; Ronaldo Golez of Dumangas, Iloilo; Remedios Petilla of Palo, Leyte; Valente Yap of Bindoy, Negros Oriental; Melchor Nacario of Calbiga, Samar; Richard C. Quezon of Siquijor, Siquijor; and Melchor Petracorta of Limasawa, Southern Leyte.

Other participants were vice mayors Evangeline Lazaro of Panglao, Bohol and Alfredo Arquillano Jr. of San Francisco, Cebu; and councilors Jason Gonzales of Iloilo City; Aura Landar-Layese of Passi City, Iloilo; Hope Marey Depasucat of Enrique B. Magalona, Negros Occidental; Gerardo Antoy of Bugason, Antique; Maria Dee Apostol of Mambusao, Capiz; and Edgardo Layese of Bantayan, Cebu.

Asked about his insights after the seminar, Antoy said, “I was so inspired by the lectures because … there was so much to be learned and to be implemented at the level of our LGU … we have to innovate … to offer something creative for the people … to give meaning to the true mandate of political leaders to have a genuine social contract (with) the people.”