The Department of Science and Technology IX congratulates its very own Regional Director Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano for having been appointed as the DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations.
The Office of the Undersecretary for Regional Operations (OUSEC-RO) assists the DOST Secretary in the formulation and implementation of policies, plans, programs and projects relative to regional operations. It also handles the administrative or oversight supervision of Regional Offices and Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI), and the coordination and monitoring of programs and projects of Senators and Congressmen in their respective districts and identified areas.
“Your brand of leadership and creativity will now be spread all over the country” said previous Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Chit Cilindro in salutation of the former director’s appointment.
Since 1992, the now USec. Nazareth-Manzano has exercised her brand of creative leadership in region IX by instituting the agency’s services, business operations, management systems and tools to international standards, resulting in DOST IX becoming the first DOST regional office in the country to receive the ISO 9001 certification.
USec Nazareth-Manzano also led the conceptualization, system development, management, and implementation of the nationwide OneLab program, which resulted in the adoption of the Unified Laboratory Information Management System (ULIMS) by all 21 DOST Regional Laboratories and Research and Development Institutes laboratories. The laboratories are linked through the OneLab referral module. The module has since then facilitated customers, enterprises, and industries access to specific DOST lab services anywhere in the country.
She is also responsible for the formulation and implementation of the nationwide CEST program or Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology, which provides assistance to the poorest of the poor communities in the country through Science and Technology. The assistance being extended involves disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, health and nutrition, and basic education – just to name a few. At present, the CEST program is assisting 116 communities nationwide, with the number continuously increasing.
Her leadership has also pushed the agency’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program or SETUP, to generate 18,970 jobs, assist 721 small and medium enterprises, and benefit 13,601 people through knowledge creation training-seminars and workshops since 2010.
USec Nazareth-Manzano is also responsible for the agency’s attainment of the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) – Commitment to Quality Management in 2012, again making DOST IX the first DOST regional office in the country to receive the award. The PQA is the highest level of national recognition for exemplary organization performance. It is a national award program that recognizes achievements of public and private sector organizations in their journey towards performance excellence.
Through her initiatives, the development and implementation of various cost-efficient IT based systems in the DOST Regional and Provincial Offices have been realized. These developments expanded the office’s operations, leading other government agencies to adapt and pattern their systems after DOST IX.
Unbeknownst to most, her efforts introduced the internet in Zamboanga City in 1992. DOST IX is the first government office to utilize the internet which indirectly influenced the rise of Internet Service Providers, pioneered by the ZAMBONET under the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
Among her plethora of achievements, USec Nazareth-Manzano also holds the GAWAD CES Award – an award most coveted among the members of the Career Executive Services – for her exemplary performance and significant contributions, particularly in the areas of innovation, information and communications technology, social services, administrative reforms, and public policy. She has set herself as an example of honesty, discipline, fortitude and commitment to quality public service.
In her stint in DOST-IX, she has established transparency in every transaction, and has influenced her staff in the department with her infectious drive for excellence, as evidenced by the agency’s committed workforce.
DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano, we remain yours. Sincerely, from the Department of Science and Technology IX, Congratulations!(Bon Padayhag, DOST-IX)
