OIC Executive Director Mary Grace Riguer of the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) went through the 28th Session of the Integrated Salamin-Diwa ng Paglilingkod, the first of two courses under the Career Executive Service Board’s (CESB) Executive Leadership Program (ELP).
The head of ILS attended the training course on September 1-14, 2015, in Naga City, Camarines Sur as a prerequisite for a Career Executive Service (CES) rank promotion. OIC Exec. Dir. Riguer joined 42 other high-level officials of government agencies in the contemplative course.
Modular sessions and skills enhancement workshops comprised the two-week Salamin-Diwa course, targeted at deepening the participants’ sense of self and awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses necessary for building exemplary leadership. This included a community immersion module (CEM) that aimed to enable the participants to gain understanding of the realities and challenges on the ground and find solutions that are innovative, inclusive and sustainable.
On September 9, OIC Exec. Dir. Riguer participated in the CEM under the sectoral group Education and Human Resource and Training Development aligned with her technical expertise and work experience. The ILS executive went to the small coastal village of Bagolatao in Minalabac, Camarines Sur, tasked to do evaluative field research using multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies.
The other sectoral groups were Public Utilities, Infrastructure, Land Use and Environmental Management; Local Governance–Institutions/Structures/Sectors, Systems, Processes and Dynamics; and Enterprise Development, Agricultural Productivity and Economic Promotion.
Leadership modules were also conducted by the following Salamin-Diwa trainers: Mr. Santos E. Getalado, founding president of the S.E. Getalado Consultancy and Leadership Center; Assistant Professor Emervencia L. Ligutom from Siliman University; Ms. Teresita R. Albert, president and chief executive officer of TRAC; and Professor Josefina J. Quintana from the University of Santo Tomas.
Former Department of Social Welfare and Development Undersecretary Celia C. Yangco gave a presentation on the state of poverty in the country while University of the Philippines Professor Benjamin Diokno provided Philippine macro-economic situationer.
As a graduation requirement, OIC Exec. Dir. Riguer and other Salamin-Diwa Batch 28 trainees presented their output reports, including stakeholders profile, governance and development issues, individual reflection journals, and group reflection reports on good governance and public service lessons and challenges.
The second and last course of the CESB’s Executive Leadership Program is the Integrated Gabay ng Paglilingkod, during which government executives undergo more advanced learning modules.
ILS is the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment. For more information on this story, please contact Ronell J. Delerio of the Advocacy and Publications Division at 527-3490 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..