Facebook sharing of Aida Page: On 23 July 2021, in his
message, Secretary of Agriculture William
Dar challenged the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College (ISPSC) celebrating
the first-year anniversary of Gilbert
Arce as ISPSC President. (The Facebook post did not say in which of the 6 campuses of ISPSC that it happened: Candon City, Cervantes, Narvacan, Santiago, Santa Maria, Tagudin – all in Ilocos Sur.
I will assume here that it was Santa Maria because that is where Mr Dar was
born.)
(ISPSC logo[1] from Facebook)
Mr
Dar’s challenge to all campuses and alumni of ISPSC was: “Partner with the
government in pushing for economic stability and usher development (for the
Philippines) to be able to compete with other countries.”
In his anniversary message, Mr Dar “urged the state college
to realign its directions towards improving economic development and (thereby reducing)
poverty not only in the province, but in the region as well.”
Mr Dar also challenged Mr Arce and the rest of the ISPSC
Family of Campuses “to work towards transforming the institution from teaching
into a research college.” I understand that to mean not necessarily to decrease
its teaching load but to increase its research portfolio in terms of quantity
and quality. Aha, research for development (R4D)!
“(He) cited advanced and emerging countries that have
invested so much in research and innovation.” (The sharing did not list the
countries either. You don’t have to look far. I think among the 10 Asean
member-countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore,
Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam – the Philippines is struggling when it comes to research for development; even while
the United States’ science presence in this country has been in the last 100+
years.
“Do not be contented (with) acquiring Intellectual Property
Rights, although it’s a good indication that you are doing something. But it
must not be the end result. Always see to it that the technologies that you
have produced are used and adopted by farmers.”
He elevated his challenge to all “higher education
institutions in the country to follow the pathway towards the realization of
being a research institution to improve food productivity levels and help in
the development of Philippine agriculture.”
As head of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and as a high school alumnus of
ISPSC, “He also committed to continue supporting ISPSC and vowed to provide
assistance in transforming it into one of the best institutions for agriculture
and rural development.” I know Mr Dar well enough to say he is not favoring ISPSC among the state
colleges & universities in the country; this is his way of thanking his
alma mater.
2 added
lessons: Lockdown or not, the best medium to teach now is? Digital. The best medium to help develop agriculture
is? Digital. Then we all can learn anytime, anyplace, anywhere!@517
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