Maximum Utilization of Available Field Personnel for Government Extension Work

September 10, 1977

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 598

WHEREAS, the various departments, bureaus and agencies of the national government maintain corps of extension workers attending to their respective programs and activities; cd

WHEREAS, maximum utilization of available field personnel call for the design of a fully coordinated program of national government extension activities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, do hereby issue the following instructions intended to dovetail the field operations of all agencies of the national government, thus increasing the effectiveness of field personnel at no additional cost:

1. It is hereby declared policy that extension workers of government shall be (a) fielded in a fully coordinated manner so as to cover all or as many barangays as possible and (b) trained in a broad range of fields so as to be able to render work in their respective areas of basic competence and in secondary areas of competence as well.

2. A Coordinating Committee on Government Extension Workers is hereby created and assigned the task of developing and coordinating the programs and projects which will implement the abovestated policy, including:

(1) Preparing and recommending to the President an annual program for integrated action among field and extension workers of all agencies of the national government, with the ultimate objective of having at least one extension worker in every barangay;

(2) Ensuring the implementation of the approved integrated plan, which shall however be performed and directed by the respective line agencies; and

(3) Monitoring and coordinating the implementation of work assignment and scheduling of field personnel and other details of the Program.

3. All agencies of government with extension/field workers shall prepare programs of compliance with these Instructions and shall submit their respective programs for approval of the Committee. The approved programs and policies shall be the basis for agency implementation and compliance. cd

4. The Civil Service Commission shall coordinate the conduct of training activities intended to broaden the skills of individual extension workers so that they can render service not only in their areas of basic competence but in such areas of secondary expertise as may be suited to their respective areas of assignment.

5. The Budget Commission shall (a) design long-term organization and staffing programs and policies for agencies of the national government, specifically including a regional component and addressed to the extension worker staff of government and (b) evaluate the extension/field budgets of agencies to ensure that these are consistent with the approved integrated program.

6. The Community development workers of the Department of Local Government and Community Development shall be the team leaders for extension/field workers assigned to such standard geographic units as may be found to be appropriate by the Committee. acd

7. The Committee shall be headed by the Presidential Executive Assistant. The membership shall consist of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, the Secretary of Health, the Secretary of Social Services and Development, the Secretary of Local Government and Community Development, the Secretary of Education and Culture, the Chairman, Civil Service Commission, and the Commissioner of the Budget or their designated representatives who shall, however, be chosen from among the next highest ranking officials of the respective agencies.

8.  The Committee shall be assisted in its work by a part-time technical staff detailed by the various participating agencies. Costs shall be borne (a) with contributions from the regular budgetary allotments of the various participating agencies and (b) from the Barangay Development Fund in the national budget to the maximum extent of five hundred thousand pesos a year. acd

DONE in San Fernando, La Union, this 10th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Seven.