I had a chance encounter with one barangay official of Bajumpandan and a local nutrition officer at a time when Manila evaluators were in Dumaguete busily compiling documents for the Search for the National Outstanding BNS in which our very own Barangay Nutrition Scholar Merlita B. Banua, a Regional Outstanding BNS awardee, is a contender.
Naturally, the conversation was focused on the preparations that were done, the problems they encountered while gathering documents and evidences, and about the contest itself. During that spirited conversation, the barangay official mentioned the lessons that they have learned, the lapses, and other things which they thought should have been done but didn’t.
Problem is, the three-day evaluation by the four-man evaluation team headed by an Assistant Secretary had caused some people to feel like wanting to walk out on them.
A barangay official could not help but shed tears as he could no longer stomach the way the evaluation was conducted, especially the insults and offending statements they gave to the respondents during interviews.
The evaluators would not “go down” to the level of the barangay; their standards seemed too high to reach, said a local nutrition officer who was also disappointed during the evaluation process.
While I was listening to the barangay official recounting on their lessons learned, and on the things they decided they were willing to do in the future, I realized something: these national government competitions actually have a purpose.
A few years ago, one of my staffmembers commented that these contests are useless, the outcomes do not benefit the general public, that these are a total waste of government funds.
True, the cash prize may not directly go to the people, the awards may just be decorated in the office of the winner, but the lessons learned would be priceless and possess long-standing value.
The lessons learned during the process can be utilized in future governance activities, can be used to ‘professionalize’ public servants, can serve as bases in the drafting of long-term political, economic, and social policies.
For many years now, the Office of the City Agriculturist of Dumaguete has been a recipient of numerous awards. All those previous citations made us proud of what we have accomplished, made us persevere more, made us think of better ways of doing things, and gave us additional fervor to improve what we have done in the past, not because we wanted to gain more awards and obtain more cash prizes but because the exercise provides us lessons that will benefit the entire City in the long run.
I was informed that this month, the results of the Search will be revealed. While barangay Bajumpandan, the City, the City Nutrition Office, and the City Agriculturist’s Office are looking forward to the results, and fervently hope that our contender will bag the national award, getting the recognition is not really the exclusive end or objective of joining the competition.
If we win, then we will be thankful. If we don’t, it will not totally be a loss. We may not be able to bring home the bacon, there may not be a laminated certificate to be hung on the office wall, but we will learn lessons that could forever be etched in our hearts and minds.
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Author’s email: [email protected]