Tagaytay City — Three years and a full cycle of training three batches of senior government executives and five more of middle rank managers under the Public Management Development Program (PMDP), Arsenio M. Balisacan, socio-economic planning secretary and chairman of the steering committee of the National Government Career Executive Service Development Program (NGCESDP) believes that it is time to conduct a review of the program not only in terms of its adherence to objectives and goals but also for the purpose of enhancing the program and its competitiveness.

A strong advocate of human development and quality bureaucracy, Balisacan concedes that the PMDP is a very important program that is long overdue.  However, he also thinks that it is equally important that the objectives of the programs are being achieved and that the steering committee is aware where improvements can be introduced.  This drive to continuously improve the program, says Balisacan, can be done through periodic evaluation.

Pointing out that PMDO is still “a work in progress”, Balisacan plans to recommend that the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the program implementor, conduct a final third party review by the end of the last year of the Aquino administration to help evaluate the program and determine whether “the outcome we wanted has been achieved by PMDP.”

An evidence-based researcher by discipline, Balisacan believes that the continuity of PMDP beyond 2016 will depend on the full appreciation of the program by the new administration.