A Dumagueteña is one of this year’s four grand finalists in the search for the Executive of the Year Award of the Department of Trade & Industry.
Maria Elena “Nannette” Calumpang-Arbon, provincial director of DTI Bohol, was selected based on the System on Performance, Rewards & Incentives (Sprints) Award/Huwarang DTI 2014.
One of the high-impact projects of DTI Bohol, with Arbon at the helm, is the Fabrication Laboratory, which is part of the Province’s earthquake recovery program to spur local entrepreneurship.
The FabLab, a P9.15 million project, is the country’s first shared service facility launched by President Aquino and Trade & Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo in May last year. It was established with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Bohol Island State University, and the Department of Science & Technology.
As the country’s only digital fabrication lab at that time, it has produced items from rubber silicone, acrylic plastic, and leather. Students in Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Communications Engineering learn to use high-tech equipment like laser cutters through project-based learning modules that combine electronics, technology, fashion, arts, and crafts.
After seeing the FabLab in a visit to Bohol, President Aquino told the Department of Education to collaborate with the DTI and DOST to require science high schools in the country to set up their respective fabrication laboratories. Since then, Arbon has constantly been invited to speak about the FabLab in various schools, prompting JICA consultants to refer to her as the “Mother of FabLab in the Philippines”.
Arbon, who is also national chairperson of DTI’s Tourism committee, is credited for ushering in projects that challenge the traditional way of doing things. Specifically, the Tourism Value Chain approach that was piloted in Bohol has now become the model for other provinces like Negros Oriental and other regions. A Bohol businessman noted that their Province now has more establishments embracing green technologies and practices.
The Value Chain approach as a business promotion tool is a result of a linkage that Arbon developed with a team of German consultants GIZ to analyze industry sectors, and craft strategies that will make them competitive.
Arbon was Division chief for Development at DTI Negros Oriental for more than 13 years, before she was promoted as provincial director of Bohol.
The DTI staff in Bohol credit her for instilling among her team the “science of creative thinking”. DTI Bohol consistently earned excellent performance ratings within Region 7 in the areas of networking for funding and technical support, garnering some P49.1 million in resources from local and foreign funding groups in 2014 alone.
Arbon initiated a program that provides small businesses the chance to feed into the tourism industry of the Province. The Leveraging Industry Supply Chains Program also supports tour and accommodation operators.
With the success of the LInC program in Bohol, Speed Market Matching activities were replicated throughout the DTI provincial offices in the country, linking local producers/suppliers with the buyers (hotels, restaurants, resorts). Tourism has since become one of DTI’s priority industry sectors.
Arbon was also awarded Region 7’s Knowledge Management Champion for her role in the development of a document outlining DTI’s current database system, a gap analysis, and a knowledge management audit of all DTI offices in Region 7. Her vision was a systematic information access and effective use of knowledge management tools.
Nannette has a BS in Commerce (Accounting) from Silliman University, and has served government for the last 33 years, 28 of which were with DTI.
DTI had shortlisted 19 executives for the Sprint Award from the more than 2,000 personnel around the country. They were chosen based on the government agency’s nine core values: professionalism, integrity, loyalty, service orientation, conscientiousness, continuous learning & growth, resourcefulness, creativity, and teammanship.
Arbon’s planning coordinator, Vierna Teresa Chiu-Ligan, was also a semi-finalist in the employees category.
A third-party panel, composed of the Commission on Audit, the Career Executive Service Board, and the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, will choose the Metrobank Foundation, will choose the winner of the Sprints Award on Aug. 17. (Gereo A. Patrimonio)
