The College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS) recently held its “3^rd Administrative Officers’ (AO) Forum” with the theme “CAFS Admins: Forerunner of Gender Inclusive Organization” on  August 29 to 30, 2024 at Estancia de Lorenzo Nature Farm and Events Venue in San Mateo, Rizal.

Dr. Adeliza A. Dorado, CAFS associate dean for instruction stated in her welcome remarks that the forum is a vital opportunity for the participants to come together, share their experiences, and explore new ideas that will shape the future of their administrative functions. She explained that the goal of the forum is to equip them with the knowledge and tools necessary for them to excel in their roles and to ensure us that CAFS will remain at the forefront of administrative excellence. She enjoined the participants to engage actively in the day’s session, ask questions, and at the same time share their insights. “I am confident that the outcome of this forum will not only benefit our individual offices but also contribute to the greater success of CAFS as a whole”, she concluded.

For the participants to be clarified on what to expect for the two-day activity, Ms. Juanita M. Larasi. administrative officer of CAFS Dean’s Office explained the mechanics of the forum. She also presented the list of topics and  name of the resource person per topic .

Ms. Arlene M. Malali, a budget comptroller of the UPLB Budget Management Office (BMO) discussed updates on the hiring process of individual contract of service. She shared the UP Office of the Vice-President for Administration (OVPA) Memo No. NGY 22-30 dated February 17, 2024 which explains the difference between contract of service (COS) and job order (JO). According to Ms. Malali, the joint circular of the Civil Service Commission, Department of Budget and Management, and the Commission on Audit clarifies the nature of work of a COS and JO. A COS according to Ms. Malali is divided into individual and institutional. An individual COS is highly technical as in the case  of consultant while institutional COS are those that are classified as support services. The nature of work of both is continuous. Job order on the other hand, has a shorter period of time only which has something to do with labor. Ms. Malali also announced that effective February 21, 2022, offices or units engage in the services of COS or JO must use the online request for authority to hire function of the Unified Information System (UIS).

Ms. Malali also announced that the use of the UIS is until October 21, 2024. In the meantime that there is still no memo from the OVPA on what process will be used in requesting for a COS and JO, the participants can still use the UIS.

Ms. Malali presented OC Memorandum No. 114 dated July 15, 2024 in pursuant to Memo No ACR 24-90 dated June 27, 2024 which states that all COS whose salaries are chargeable against UPLB Fund shall have a three-month contract duration effective July 1, 2024 until November 30, 2024. In the said memo, the COS will have 22 working days per month. They will be paid from their services regardless of holidays. JO on the other hand, is working days less the holidays.

Meanwhile, Ms. Michelle M. Villasor, a comptroller of CAFS funds of the UPLB BMO presented three (3) BMO updates. First,  the UP System financial monitoring and tracking utilization rates across all funds. Ms. Villasor explained that UPLB fund is composed of the general fund, revolving fund, and trust liability account. She requested the administrative officers to come up with a catch up plan in order to attain a 100% utilization rate of the said funds. This is to avoid budget cut due to low utilization rate.  Second,  the phasing out of the current UIS, potential disruption in human resource (HR) and financial operation and transition to new HR and finance system. According to Ms. Villasor the current UIS for the HR operation will end on November 1, 2024. This will be replaced by Personal Unified System Outlook (PUSO). On the other hand, the current UIS  for the finance operation will end on October 31, 2024. It will be replaced by Budget  Utilization and Liquidation System Analytics (BULSA). Ms. Villasor explained that under BULSA, the attachment for the General Fund is Obligation Request and Status (ORS) while the revolving fund and trust fund attachment is Budget Utilization Request and Status (BURS). Third, salary rates for fiscal year 2024. According to Ms. Villasor, the new salary schedule is effective January 2024. The start of release of the Notice of Salary Adjustment will be on September 6, 2024. The adjustment of salary will start on  October 2024.

Ms. Shiela Marie S. Pacia, in-charge of the Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS) and Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) initiatives of the UPLB Human Resources Development Office (HRDO) discussed the topic “Adaptive Performance Monitoring and Effective Coaching Practices: Understanding the 2^nd Stage of UP SPMS”. According to  Ms. Pacia, performance monitoring is a regular observation or tracking of progress of employees’ processes in the office as well as employees’ performance. Coaching on the other hand, is unlocking  people’s potential to maximize and improve work performance. Ms. Pacia also tackled on the key principles of coaching as well as the GROW process of coaching. The participants also did a role playing by group with the assigned scenario that would allow them to practice adaptive performance.

In addition to the presentation of Ms. Pacia, Mr. Ricardo Amiel V. Reveche, supervising administrative officer of the HRDO provided some tips on how to do coaching. He reminded them that coaching cannot be done all the time. Furthermore, he stated that not all coaches have the talent to do coaching. Hence, he emphasized that it takes practice and skill to do coaching.

The afternoon session delved on the topic, ‘Gender Sensitivity in the Workplace” with Dr. Ana Katrina P. De Jesus, coordinator of the UPLB Office of Anti- Sexual Harassment as resource person. She explained that  the purpose of gender sensitivity is to understand and give consideration to socio-cultural norms and discriminations in order to acknowledge the different rights, roles and responsibilities of men and women in the community and relationships between them. She also shared her insights  about several concepts related to the topic such as safe space,  gender equality, gender equity, and gender and development.

Day 2 of the AO Forum was devoted to an open forum on the process flow of official documents from home unit to Dean’s Office to concerned offices.

Closing the two-day AO Forum was CAFS Dean Elpidio M. Agbisit, Jr. where he thanked the participants for sparing their time and for staying efficient as a College. He enjoined them to continue their  work properly in their respective units. (IMGesmundo)