THROUGH the years, I’ve been fortunate to guide professionals on how to make sense of HR data, build meaningful dashboards, or even experiment with predictive tools that spot red flags before they become crises.
If there’s a willingness to learn, I’d be glad to support fellow HRMOs in Western Visayas on this journey. Because once you see how data brings clarity, confidence, and credibility to your work, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.
Raising the Bar: Agencies Leading by Example
Two government institutions stand out as torchbearers for HR transformation:
* Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-First national agency to achieve PRIME-HRM Level III in 2024, rising from Bronze just the year before.
* PhilRice-Quietly achieving Level III and preparing for the Silver Award, unlocking faster processes and greater autonomy.
What do these two have in common?
They’ve made HR strategic. They’ve shifted the culture from compliance to leadership, from forms to foresight. And they’ve proven that integrity and innovation can—and must—coexist in public institutions.
They didn’t wait for perfect conditions. They moved with purpose. What’s stopping us from doing the same?
The Bigger Picture: A Culture Shift in the Making
Western Visayas is not alone in this journey. Across the Philippines, public agencies are rethinking HR not as an administrative burden but as a strategic function. PRIME-HRM, while technical in nature, champions a culture of accountability, transparency, and professional growth.
If we take these tables as a snapshot of progress, then the image is one of a region steadily building its HR foundation. The growth in Bronze awards is not just a statistic—it is a signal: public HR in Western Visayas is maturing, agency by agency, one system at a time.
Can we imagine what this region would look like if even half of its agencies were operating at Silver or Gold? What would service delivery look like? How many staff members would feel truly seen, supported, and rewarded?
The road ahead will demand more than compliance—it will require transformational leadership, capacity building, and stronger partnerships with the CSC. But if these recent strides are any indication, Western Visayas is ready to take on the challenge.
And in the long run, that makes all the difference—not just for HR units, but for the Filipino people they serve.
HRMO Reimagined
It’s 2030. In a sunlit HR office of a mid-sized LGU in Antique, an HR officer opens a sleek dashboard—not to scramble for compliance reports, but to review predictive data on which departments need upskilling next quarter. A new employee is greeted not with stacks of forms but a digital onboarding portal that walks them through benefits, training paths, and performance expectations. The department head isn’t chasing signatures—they’re mentoring a team, confident that HR systems are humming quietly in the background. Staff feedback loops are active. Wellness programs are funded. Career growth isn’t a slogan—it’s structured. This isn’t fiction. It’s what Silver or Gold could actually look like—and the first steps, as we’ve seen in Western Visayas, are already being taken.
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Columnist Bio
Nicasio A. Pimentel III is a UK-certified human resources practitioner and educator with over 15 years of experience spanning HR strategy, analytics, systems integration and talent management across several Fortune Global 500 companies and public sector institutions in UK, Australia and the Middle East. He holds an MSc in Management and Human Resources from the prestigious London School of Economics and a BA Psychology from the University of the Philippines Diliman. A former Christian missionary to marginalized ethnic minorities in Cambodia, he now teaches psychology at the University of Antique and continues to serve underserved communities in Western Visayas through grassroots ministry and education advocacy. He is also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Assoc CIPD) in the UK. For questions, e-mail nicasio.pimentel@antiquespride.edu.ph./PN
