seminar, and formulation of a road map. ICD then facilitates the holding of a “corporate retreat.”

“ICD helps corporate boards craft a Board and Subsidiary Road Map,” Mr. Moreno said. “There is also what we call a ‘Companies Circle’ where member companies can discuss corporate governance.”

FPD: Making business work for the poor

AS food products are packaged to stay attuned to the demands of the global market, farmer and fisherfolk communities are also transformed along the way. But more than just establishing packaging centers, coop marts, and savings and microfinance associations, the Foundation for People Development (FPD) has also built a sectoral road map that will show its constituency the way to good governance.

Backing cooperative marketing enterprise for the past 12 years now, the FPD has gone beyond grassroots efforts by becoming an Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) sectoral partner, aiming to raise standards of governance practice through the Philippine Governance System (PGS).

“Good governance is part of genuine people development,” FPD President Raul Hernandez said at the MKAP Forum.

One of the main aims of FPD is to help farmers and fisherfolk raise their own capital. “We also aim to liberate them from the informal 5-6 lending system,” Mr. Hernandez added.

The North Food Exchange (NFE) in Bulacan follows the FPD model as a leading marketing and distribution depot in the province. Also aiming to be the center of trading and technology in North Luzon, it has also crafted its own road map towards its goals for 2017.

“We help farmers plant high-value crops. They must not only toil the land but also become entrepreneurs in today’s world,” said Josefina Dela Cruz, NFE President and former Bulacan governor for nine years. “We believe that our programs should be people-oriented and not merely leadercentered.”

Along with introducing bureaucratic reforms in the province such as the Investment Incentive Code, Ms. Dela Cruz stressed the “importance of networking and seeking out global partners.”

“Part of this is harnessing cooperation among all the stakeholders like the government and theprivate sector,” she said, adding that part of the road map is also developing the youth and intensifying Math and English competency in Bulacan public schools.

“The systemic initiatives under PGS harness the potential of our greatest resource: our people,” she added.

From public scandal to public governance

THEIRS was a scandal that reverberated around the world and which many thought would be hard to emerge from, even with a new set of policies in place.

The gamut of challenges facing the sector makes good governance quite a tall order. There is the issue on the deteriorating quality of supply of good Filipino nurses, the lack of unified leadership and management skills, the

lack of representation in international agreements that put Filipino nurses abroad at a competitive disadvantage, threats to the autonomy of regulatory bodies – not to mention the continuous exodus of nurses abroad that leads to an acute shortage in the country.

But the nursing profession is showing the way to being a world-class professional organization, thanks to its serious and determined efforts. Their vision by 2030 is to achieve a 90% passing rate per school in the nursing examination and 100% compliance with all certified public licensure requirements, among other things.

Rallying support behind this vision are 16 nursing organizations represented under a newly formed Coordinating Body for Good Governance of the Nursing Profession. Executive Order No. 25 also mandated the profession to uphold and observe good governance practices. “We are coping. We have adequate sectoral support,” said Carmencita Abaquin, head of the Board of Nursing.*