“When the source of information is ignorant and insane, and the radio broadcaster is illiterate, the result is crazy and senseless public opinion.”

I graduated with a master of public administration from the College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, on 23 April 1972, under the scholarship program of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The rationale behind the CSC scholarship program is to produce experts in public administration education to become trainers of civil service workers on efficient and effective public administration.

I was fortunate to be assigned as resident auditor to top executive offices in Malacañang, where I had the opportunity to work under and with Jaime C. Laya and Manuel S. Alba, who were both outstanding UP business graduates of Class 1957, magna cum laude and cum laude, respectively, and who served as instructors of economics with Gerardo Sicat.

I enrolled in the required subject of Professor Jose D. Soberano, under whom Gerardo Sicat served for 11 months as a research assistant at IPA. It was Professor Soberano who suggested to Sicat the topic for his MA thesis. Dr. Cesar A. Majul assessed in detail Sicat’s thesis.

Sicat wrote a careful and detailed account of the various economic plans that he prepared to be implemented as Philippine governmental policy for planned economic development.

I shall continue discussing the Sicat thesis as presented and explained to us during our 5:30 to 8:30 evening class at UP Padre Faura, after I have introduced to you my top-notch UP graduate school professors who inspired and emboldened me to teach public fiscal administration, as a flying professor, in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao from 1972 to 1988.

Atty. Antonio Acevedo, City Treasurer of Manila and I, like many others holding plantilla positions in local and national government units, were assigned by the University of the Philippines as expert lecturers in UP public administration extension classes in various parts of the Philippines.

Dr. Raul P. de Guzman, considered the father of public administration in the Philippines, was recognized for his contributions to the field by being honored as one of The Outstanding Young Men or TOYM of 1965 for public administration education by the Philippine Jaycees. He was also given the National Social Scientist Award in 1991 by the Philippine Social Science Council or PSSC and the UP Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to the University in 1993.

Dr. De Guzman served in his capacity as Regent of the UP Board of Regents, UP Vice President for Planning and Finance in 1982, Chancellor of UP Los Baños in 1985, Secretary General of the Eastern Regional Organization of Public Administration or EROPA, and Presidential Adviser on Development Administration in 1998. In 1999, Dr. De Guzman recommended my appointment to Undersecretary of Budget and Management.

Dr. Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo is one of the country’s most respected political scientists who, in his own words, “specialized in the study of unconventional politics.”

While pursuing graduate studies at the University of Manchester in England, he joined the Communist Club and immersed himself in Marxist philosophy, economics and politics. Back in the Philippines, he held the third-highest position in the then-Communist Party as secretary of education and head of the international department. His scholarly works focused on the dynamics of revolutionary movements in the Philippines.

Dr. Nemenzo was the 18th president of the University of the Philippines. He led the development of the Revitalized General Education Program, which allows students to choose their general education courses which will form the foundation of their college education; of a special fund to support the economic growth of the faculty; and of the much-improved facilities and equipment that enhanced the learning environment in the university. His contributions to the academic community proved his “commitment to education and belief in the Filipino youth.

(To be continued.)