In line with the University of the Philippines (UP) Centennial Celebration, the UP-National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG), held a colloquium on Philippine public administration last 26 June 2008, which featured a paper written by the JRU-MPA Program Area Head and Faculty, Prof. Eli E. Ricote.

With the theme “Is There a Philippine Public Administration? A Timeless Issue”, the colloquium invited prominent PA scholars in the country including former UP President Jose Abueva and UP-NCPAG’s former deans, to write papers in response to the same question answered in the 1986 papers of respected Philippine PA authors, Raul De Guzman and O.D. Corpuz, now considered classics in Philippine PA literature.

JRU’s Prof. Ricote was one of the PA scholars invited to particularly write about Philippine PA as field of study and how it evolved throughout the years since it was first formally offered in the then UP-Institute of Public Administration in 1952. His paper provided a comprehensive inventory of PA/Governance offerings all over the country, highlighting the major areas/fields of study that now characterize it. He also stressed the role of institutional linkages, particularly the Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines, Inc. (ASPAP, Inc.), in strengthening the instruction and research of said PA offerings. Finally, he raised PA instruction and research challenges critical to its continued evolution and expansion as a distinct field of study.

The colloquium papers that were presented last 26 June 2008 at NCPAG in UP-Diliman, will be published in a special issue of the Philippine Journal of Public Administration, the only refereed journal on PA in the Philippines. This rich collection of papers is expected to be a substantial contribution to Philippine PA literature and will be a required reading in all PA/Governance Programs all over the country.

The invitation for JRU to write for the colloquium is a recognition of its MPA Program, now recognized as among the best in the country.