Transformative Journey
His journey was not a stroll in the park! It was one he toiled for! It was his grit that sealed his name in the chronicles of the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), where intelligent, innovative, dynamic junior managers who possess a natural love for public service and the courage to assume more enormous responsibilities in the bureaucracy are honed to become transformative leaders.
Dr. Bernardo D. Lamadrid, Executive Director for DMMMSU Open University System, has successfully finished his Public Management Development Program at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP). He accepted DMMMSU’s offer to enroll in DAP on September 2, 2022, when he was still the SAS Head. He ventured into DAP training after several attempts by Dr. Eduardo C. Corpuz to encourage him to enroll in the prestigious institution.
Dr. Lamadrid was one of the 45 scholars from various government agencies in the country who comprised the Middle Managers Class (MMC) Batch 30, Class Sillag, an elite cohort of humble yet promising and compassionate leaders.
A Deep Dive into Leadership Excellence
Along with other scholars, Dr. Lamadrid went through the intensive program that produces leaders who are “sources of innovation, promoters of synergies, and catalysts of change”.
This program is divided into two key phases. The first phase involves a 6-month Residential Training held at the DAP Conference Center in Tagaytay City. Here, scholars delved into courses categorized under three major learning areas: Governance and Development, Strategic Public Management, and Personal Efficacy and Leadership. They were also immersed in a sensing journey in a selected community in Quezon Province.
Capstone Project: A Test of Leadership
The second phase, spanning another six months, centered around the preparation and implementation of a Capstone Project. This project, a pinnacle of the MMC program, aimed to address agency or customer-specific concerns and opportunities. Dr. Lamadrid’s Capstone Project was titled MISS DMMMSU: Management Information System for Students of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University towards Efficient Delivery of Academic-Related Services.
Dr. Ma. Milagros C. Laurel, a prominent academician and renowned leader herself, served as Faculty Adviser, and Dr. Elsie M. Pacho, DMMMSU VP for Academic and International Affairs, served as Institutional Partner.
Crafting a Capstone Project in DAP unleashes scholars’ potential for innovation and kindles their leadership core.
The establishment of the project allowed Dr. Lamadrid to identify opportunities for improvement in the University’s operations. This includes the enhancement of the student campus journey, the adoption of the single-window framework, and the digitalization of processes. Also, this addressed the current gaps and challenges concerning record management, including varying means of record keeping, limited time of accessibility of services, absence of proper audit trail, and slow adoption of digitalization of processes.
The implementation of the project comes in time with the installation of the 10Gb fiber-optic infrastructure at the Mid La Union Campus. This new record management system can be integrated with the existing Student Portal.
Dr. Lamadrid’s heart for students can be seen in his services as the SAS Head in the most heavily populated campus in the University for four years. In 2016, he was in-charge of MLUC student discipline. He also served as Student Body Organization adviser, and Faculty President in his college, College of Information Technology.
Master in Development Management: Academic Equivalency
Upon completing the residential training, implementing the capstone project, and gaining approval for the project report, Dr. Lamadrid earned a Master in Development Management degree.
Graduation Milestone
The journey that began on September 5, 2022, reached a triumphant culmination at the DAP Conference Center in Tagaytay, marking the 27th Graduation Ceremony on December 1, 2023. Dr. Lamadrid and his fellow Class Sillag graduates celebrated academic achievements and significant takeaways from the program — personal mastery, citizen centricity, and practical and transformative leadership – all of which DAP expects highly of its graduates.
After his successful one-year journey to transformative leadership, Dr. Lamadrid’s name is now etched on the walls of the Development Academy of the Philippines, where Dr. Jaime I. Manuel, Jr. himself, and other SUC presidents and other organizational leaders were trained.
As his name stands on the cusp of a promising career, Dr. Bernardo “Bench” Lamadrid continues his journey as a leader who embodies the Class Sillag’s and DAP’s ethos and is fearless at revolutionizing public service through innovation, intelligence, and an unwavering commitment to serving the people. (By Ayu)
