The opening activities of the NCPAG-led three-day Conference were jump started by welcome messages of UPD Chancellor Edgardo C. L. Vistan, UP President Angelo A. Jimenez and Quezon City Mayor and venue host, Hon. Maria Josefina “Joy” Belmonte. UPD NCPAG Dean Dr. Kristoffer B. Berse provided the expanded conference overview. Plenary sessions followed which include “High-Level Dialogue on Transparency,” “High-Level Dialogue on Accountability,” “Community Listening Session on Participation”, and “High-Level Dialogue on Bureaucratic Reform” held in Day 1, among others.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Officer-In-Charge Hon. Roland Toledo; Undersecretary of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Hon. Nicasio Conti; Undersecretary for Strategic Management of the Department of Education (DepEd) Hon. Ronald Mendoza; UP NCPAG and UP Law Professorial Lecturer Dr. Antonio La Vina; Hon. Faustino Dy III, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Hon. Brian Poe Llamanzares, FPJ Bayanihan Partylist Representative; Deputy Special Prosecutor Atty Leilani Bernadette-Cabras of the Office of the Ombudsman; UP NCPAG Professorial Lecturer Dr. Edna Co; and former Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Hon. Heidi Mendoza were among the Day 1 plenary speakers.
The UPOU FMDS MPM program served as convenor, chair, and moderator of the first day panel on “Digital and Technological Innovations.” The MPM program collaborated with NCPAG GRIT Labs in solidarity with the iCARE’s goal of convening “scholars, policymakers, reform advocates, journalists, and civil society leaders to examine the historical, institutional, and cultural dimensions of corruption and accountability” and in support of the United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, 2025.
Atty. Rosanne Medez, MPM Program Senior Lecturer, and overall moderator of the MPM panel, facilitated highly insightful exchanges during the panel discussion. Dr. Juvy Lizette M. Gervacio, , Associate Professor of the UPOU MPM Program and UPOU Center for Open and Digital Teaching and Learning (CODTL Director, presented her paper on “AI in Governance.” Dr. Gervacio underscored Artificial Intelligence’s (AI’s) potential to advance socio-economic development and support sustainable development goals and the need for policy pathways that aim to strengthen multi-stakeholder cooperation, capacity-building and international collaboration towards building a trusted and human-centered AI ecosystem.
Asst. Prof. Rose Nonette C. Capadosa, Ph.D., MPM Program Chair, shared her paper titled “From the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) Analysis: Integrated Ethics Education with Dilemma Approach Paradigm in Digital Platform Under a Spiral Curriculum Policy” as potent in dealing with long-standing faulty ethics and values education pedagogy and curriculum that centers on the “Bag of Virtues” approach and the human capital paradigm. After ushering participants back in time to recall the miseducation of the Filipinos cited by history scholars of the Spanish era education up to the present Republic Act No. 11476 (Good Manners and Right Conduct and Values Education Act) period reflected in the EDCOM 1 and 2 findings, Dr. Capadosa espoused for an upgrade and an integrated ethics/values education policy from the Basic Education level to the Professional academic level; convening different stakeholders into a regular dialogical inquiry community; adequate training and capacity building of ethics educators; and the regular monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of implemented ethics education programs, among others.
The paper of Asst. Prof. Edmerson Z. Calungsod on “Digital Pulse Check: Assessing the Digital Transformation Readiness of Zamboanga Peninsula LGUs through the Lens of Local Government Officers” assessed the digital transformation readiness of Local Government Units (LGUs) in the Zamboanga Peninsula by examining the perspectives of LGU officers involved in digital governance under the LGU Local Government Academy’s (LGA) Capacity Development Pillars. From secondary data and focus group discussion (FGD) with the LGU officials, findings revealed varying levels of digital readiness. Asst. Prof. Calungsod recommended the prioritization of policy development that strengthens regional digital transformation efforts and ensure sustainable progress across LGUs.
The collaboration is supportive of a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals); SDG 4 (Quality Education); SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth); SDG 9 (Industry Innovation and Infrastructure); SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities); SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities); SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production); SDG 13 (Climate Action); and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
Written by Rose Nonette C. Capadosa, UPOU FMDS MPM Program Chair, with contributions from Jephte Olimpo Muñez, UPOU D/MLVM Program Chair • Edited by Larry N. Cruz
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