DENR mourns the demise of a biodiversity champion

Tuesday, 14 August 2012 16:09 |

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) mourns the death of Forester Rodrigo Fuentes, executive director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) based in Los Baños, Laguna.

Fuentes, who turned 54 last July 9, passed away Monday after a long battle with lung cancer. His remains lie at the St. Therese Chapel at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna. He is survived by wife, Elsa, and two sons, Ralph Andre and Ralph Alphonse.

“In behalf of the DENR, we express our deepest sorrow for the loss of Dir. Fuentes, whom we shared a common vision for the protection and conservation of not only the country’s biodiversity resources but all of the ASEAN region,” DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje said.

With heavy heart, Paje reminisced their younger days as co-workers at the Project Management Office of then Bureau of Forest Development, now Forest Management Bureau.

“As we are both foresters and fresh graduates then of the UPLB-College of Forestry, we dreamed together, along with the rest of the team, of how we could push for reforms in managing our forest resources. And somehow, we achieved a certain level of success,” Paje said.

Fuentes, fondly called Rod by colleagues and friends, later held various management positions in the DENR as regional executive director and as chief of the Environmental Management Bureau.

After his stint at the DENR, he went on to engage in either consultancy or as technical advisor to different intergovernmental and multi-lateral organizations such as the ASEAN, Asian Development Bank, United Nations agencies and the World Bank where his work brought him to countries such as China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Syria, Switzerland and Thailand.

As a sustainable development and urban and regional planning expert, Fuentes also specialized in environmental program design and project development, policy and institutional assessment, environmental monitoring and assessment, and capacity development in environmental management and sustainable development.

EnvironmentNatural Resources Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje rallied last week his field officials to ensure the success of the National Greening Program, saying the program has full support of the President.

“There is no reason to fail considering that President Aquino has amply given all the support this program (NGP) needs to succeed,” Paje told the regional executive directors (REDs), regional technical directors, and the provincial and community environment and natural resources officers (PENROs, CENROs) attending the 2-day National Convention of Field Officers held May 31-June 1, 2011 at the DENR Social Hall in Quezon City.

Paje also challenged the field officials “to give their best shot” as their performance in implementing the NGP will be “highly taken into consideration’ in the evaluation of officials for promotions.

“Those who will be performing will be rewarded. Wala pong biro yan,” Paje said, stressing that the field officers will be evaluated fairly based on a purely-merit system “without regard for personal ties or past associations” he has made through over 20 years at the DENR where he started his career as a casual forester.

Paje said the NGP-driven performance-based incentive scheme will first zero in on the PENRO and CENRO positions, with an instruction to DENR Assistant Secretary for Management and Finance Corazon Davis to reserve the vacant PENRO and CENRO posts as rewards for NGP’s top performers especially those that are on an acting capacity.

“If you are a CENRO, you will automatically become a PENRO. Those who are not yet full-pledged CENRO (with temporary appointment), we will make you full-pledged CENROs. Performance lamang, wala nang iba,” Paje stressed.

Of the 168 CENRO plantilla positions, 47 have yet to be filled; while 25 remain vacant in the 73 PENRO plantilla posts.

The incentive scheme forms part of Paje’s overall program to strengthen DENR’s performance-based promotion system to beef up the national leadership’s efforts in professionalizing the Philippine bureaucracy.

But Paje was quick to clarify that the quality of their performance will be determined by the survival of the seedling declared in their performance and not merely on the number of seedling planted.

“Remember, the NGP is a national priority program of President Aquino, and this is not for show but for grow. Gone are the days when tree planting activities were just to set world records or just for photo opportunities,” Paje noted.

At the same time, Paje asked “doubting Thomases” to be forthcoming this early with their hesitation to go all out to meet their targets to allow for management to act appropriately in their particular case.

“We will make sure that everybody performs. Kung sino sa inyo ang tingin ay hindi kayang ipatupad ang programang ito, sabihin na ninyo ngayon,” Paje said.

The performance-based incentive will be based on the field officials’ scorecard in the yearly targets given them and will be validated with the use of state-of-the art technology such as satellite mapping and internet-based technology through NGP’s website at the www.ngp.denr.gov.ph

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