At 11:00 am, the Vice President attended the 2018 Annual Conference of the Asian Group of Public Administration (AGPA) in UP-National College of Public Administration (NCPAG), University of the Philippines, Quezon City. The conference was jointly organized by the AGPA and the UP-NCPAG. It aimed to bring together researchers, scholars, and practitioners of public administration to discuss researches, insights, and experiences on resilience in public administration and governance, and the response of public administration to disruptive events.

In her speech, the Vice President emphasized how critical our government’s role in empowering small communities by letting them take part of everyday processes. “Local leadership is critical in creating and sustaining reforms. From my experience in government, local officials are most knowledgeable in the nitty gritty business of everyday governance. But the work is not theirs alone. Governance is not just about the government, it is about how people interact with government. We must create spaces for our people to propose policy and monitor whether they are being enforced or not. We must bring together development partners, non-government organizations, and the private sector in nation-building as well.”