DAP at 50: A time for nostalgia

The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) marked its 50th anniversary on June 6. There is much homecoming and reminiscing among the present and former staff.

I have served in many government institutions, and I feel that there are few of them that have created fierce loyalty and a sense of team accomplishment among their staff as has the DAP. I speak from experience. I joined DAP when I was 25 years old, transferring from the University of the Philippines (UP). Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz was the founding president and Horacio “Boy” Morales was executive vice president. Without much ceremony, I was hired as a project officer in the Development Planning Systems and Futures Research headed by Col. Candido Filio.

The early days of martial law were heady days. Government agencies were all in a hurry to seize the moment and formulate plans, programs, and projects with which to use the government to transform society in all the fields—agrarian reform, agriculture, cooperatives development, trade and industry, foreign affairs, finance. There were new departments being created, each one a hefty bureaucratic bulldozer with eager young and middle-aged staff.

The Academy, at different times, was headed by a talented and articulate bunch of collective leadership consisting of the likes of Jose P. de Jesus, Carmencita Abella, Fr. Gene Moran, Conrado Benitez, Mahar Mangahas, Arturo Tolentino, Magdaleno Albarraccin, Salvador Garbanzos, Milton Mendoza, William Torres, Patricia Sison, Conrado Navarro, Flor Braid, Jack Jacolbe, Jobert Vasquez, Benjamin Diokno, Teodoro Rey, and others. At the senior officer level would be younger staff like Ramon Cruz, Romulo Manlapig, Rogelio Sison, and Wilfredo Nepomuceno. There was such a diversity of alumni from UP, Ateneo, and other universities.

OD Corpuz defined the institutional personality and work style of the Academy. Coming from UP, I found it odd but refreshing that project concept papers would circulate informally and anonymously for comment among the staff, across departments and tiers. There was almost an unwritten rule that all output was collective, never individual.

What characterized the DAP as an institution? I was reviewing my DAP notes for this column, and I came upon a set of figures from an “Operations Committee View, Sep 2003.”

The first was “strong traditions” at 4.6 (scale max 7, min 1). OD kept reminding the DAP staff not to aim to retire in DAP. And so, while many remained and did retire from there, DAP shed its staff as it built new institutions like the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Human Settlements and Development. These spin-off staff tended to keep the traditions of integrity and discipline, systems, and performance levels acquired at DAP.

The second was “fun and exciting” at 4.34. It was fun and motivating to work in the Academy. The staff of DAP kept learning and sharing new knowledge, tools, and processes among themselves. The DAP Building in Pasig was a relentless learning and problem-solving workshop. The staff stayed beyond office hours as needed by their project and functional responsibilities.

The other attributes were: very supportive (staff), 3.94; high trust, 3.91; healthy rituals, 3.86; clear values, 3.65; strong teamwork, 3.56; effective communication, 3.5; equal treatment of people, 3.49; effective listening; 3.49; average, 3.83.

One thing must be added—“integrity and corruption resistance” in DAP. When some of us staff visited Morales at the Bago Bantay Detention Center after his capture by the military, one of the first things he asked was whether the Academy had remained “clean,” meaning, has it avoided being corrupted? Yes, we reassured him.

DAP staff were often personally on one or the other side of the political fence, even from the early days, as shown in Morales’ defection to be the chair of the National Democratic Front on the day he was to receive the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award in 1977.

This cultivated muted political ambivalence of the Academy is the secret of its institutional resilience. When the Edsa People Power Revolution broke out in 1986, then DAP president Jose P. de Jesus issued a declaration in support of people power, which incidentally he asked me to draft. DAP was to play a prominent supporting role in the first Aquino administration.

The DAP today is a mere shadow of its institutional importance and strength in the 1970s. But it has deftly kept itself relevant, professional, and “clean.” So, I look forward to engaging in some DAP nostalgia sessions this week.

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