The largest contingent ever of career officials converged in the largest city in the world in a conference  keynoted by the  second highest official of the land.

Vice President Noli “Kabayan” de Castro, during his keynote speech in the opening ceremonies of the three-day Conference of Career Executive Service Officers held in Davao City on October 15-17,  underscored the value of the career officials in national development.

“Elected officials like me will come and go, but you will stay and forever extend service (to the Filipino people).”  He said that career officials are in enviable position. “Politicians get to serve our countrymen for a term of so but you have the opportunity to serve our countrymen  during the entirety of your professional careers.  Using a widely popular colloquial term “kinakareer”, he said “Ang CESO ay isang taong “kinareer” ang paglilingkod sa sambayanang Pilipino. (A CESO is one who has made  career of public service.)”

The Vice President engaged the crowd with his down-to-earth humor, but what delighted them the most was when he vowed  “You can count on my support for a program that  will enhance the compensation and incentive system for CESOs.”

This year’s National Conference of CESOs is the seventh in the annual tradition of gathering of CESOs to talk about issues relevant and interesting to CESOs. This year’s theme is on Leadership and Good Governance in the 21st Century.

Anchored on this theme, the next two days of the conference had international and distinguished resource persons presenting trends and developments in the art and practice of leadership and governance.  The Conference also tackled gut issues that affect the day-to-day lives of career officials, namely compensation and management control.

First on the business was a presentation by the Dept. of Budget Representative Director Myrna Chua on the DBM proposal modifying the existing government classification and compensation system.  The topic was definitely riveting for the participants as the ensuing open forum generated a lot of questions from the floor. Eventually, the contingent unanimously decided to endorse the proposal to increase compensation and incentives for government officials and employees.

A representative of the Singapore Administrative Service, Elizabeth Quah, spoke on the practice for  leadership development and talent management of one of Asia’s, if not the world’s, most effective bureaucracies.

The afternoon sessions during the second day were of the inspirational kind. Ma. Carmen Alcuaz-Reyes, head of the Center for Leadership and Change, Inc. spoke on leadership foundations and how the best leaders excite their subordinates and bring the organization to organizational greatness. Jorge Perez de Tagle, President of the Integrative Learning International and author of the book Leaders as Surfers,  spoke on Transformational Organizational Development, likened the act of leading to surfing.  He said that to be effective leaders, one must do what surfers do, which is to ride, and not fight, the waves.

Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr., Chair of the House Committee on Civil Service,  also underscored the importance of career service during his speech that capped the second day of the Conference. He echoed VP de Castro’s laud for career officials earlier, “Politicians come and go, but the career officials provide the continuity and stability in the bureaucracy.” He presented some of the bills supported by his Committee, among them the “Government Classification and Compensation Act” (GCCA) bill which seeks to overhaul our civil service ranking and salary grade system.” He threw his hat in the ring to support the GCCA,  “I wanted to see this bill enacted because I truly believe that the current SSL set-up does not work anymore.”

The third day of the Conference had a former Commissioner of the COMELEC, Mehol Sadain, presenting the historical context of the conflict in Mindanao  which sought to increase the understanding of the situation by  the career officials. Assistant Secretary Alberto A. Bernardo also lectured on the provisions that emphasize the value of internal control mechanisms, including its legal basis, concepts and components.

The Conference was jointly organized by the CESB and the National Union of CESOs. It was the host chapter, the Association of Regional Executives in National Agencies or ARENA in Region XI,  that provided the local support and coordination.

The Conference was a rousing success , judging by the delegation that it drew.