The Department of Agriculture, Regional Field Unit Number 5, has four major divisions, the Planning, Research (BIARC), Operations and Administrative division. The Administrative Division serve as the pin in the wheel of the research division as its main support system. It is composed of Personnel, Finance and General Administrative Office.
The Personnel Office has four sections which oversee the recruitment and trainings, appraisal and evaluation, compensation and loans and the Payroll Section wherein Reyes in her book Support Systems for R & D, included the payroll unit as part of the accounting system.
Under the Finance office are the accounting and budget sections. The accounting section take charge of accounting procedures namely: a) Certification and approval of ALOBS, vouchers, Jos, Pos, RIVs, PRFs, etc as to the availability of funds as per Special Order no. 67 dated 07/24/2002, b) Preparation of statement of unliquidated Fund transfers to various recipient LGUs of the six provinces of Bicol and, c) Preparation of demand letters to various officers and employees with unliquidated cash advances.
The General Services Office oversee the physical upkeep of the buildings and facilities and take charge of procurement and bidding details such as review submitted documents of bidders to verify their qualifications and competence to bid and undertake government project, review minutes and other documents prior to release of notice of award and other processes, prepare corresponding contracts with the winning bidders, and prepare demands and notices to bidders with outstanding obligations to deliver items and other communications relating to their performance. Motorpool is also a part of the general services office which is responsible in releasing approved request for gasoline, while the dispatching of drivers and vehicles are given to division heads and their authorized staff all the documents are still required to pass the General Services Offices for recommendation and record purposes.
Meanwhile, the R & D Support Section covers the Bicol Experiment Station (BES is located within the compound of the regional office in Cam. Sur), Research Outreach Stations (located in Albay, Cam. Norte, Catanduanes, Masbate & Sorsogon), Regional Integrated Laboratory, Information Technology and knowledge laboratories, and Technology Commercialization and Income Generating Projects.
The BIARC manager is also acting as BEST Superintendent and has the following diverse managerial functions from manpower management, physical resource, program implementation and extension services. The staff house are also under the BES superintendent. Each personnel perform multi tasking from the manger to the Junior assistants. The technical staffs also perform support functions at one time and as need arise, assist in the actual conduct of research.
Junior research assistants are tasked to assist in the conduct of R D & E projects, conduct statistical analysis, prepare and analyze data, assist in the preparation of terminal reports and conduct research proposal preparation.
The sub-systems of FASS and TSS are interrelated with each other. As part of the organization structure, the subsystems are the parts which when put together become whole. This reflects the idea of Sharma (1990) as cited by Zaballa (2011) that “Systems” is an assemblage of interdependent elements or objects forming unified, organized whole. Thus, the sub-systems are interdependent and interrelated in terms of functions and activities mesh together as part of the process cycle to attain a pre-determined goal.
The FASS as a support system of RDO focus on the administrative support services of research, where personnel varies from Attorney, Accountant, auditor, budget officers, HRD experts etcetera who provide various types of administrative services. The TSS personnel on the other hand vary from scientist, managers, technical staff, information officer, statistician, food technologist etcetera who provides relevant data and information imperative to the conduct of research. One junior assistant in BIARC work as technical support staff but in the absence of researcher, she is required to assist in the conduct of research.
Although FASS and TSS have different specific functions, both are providing support functions to R & D. Each sub-system has an important role to complete the process and produce effective and efficient R & D Output. If one sub-system malfunctioned there will be a deterrent effect in the overall output of the project or would cause a delay in the research activities. Dr. Madrid, the Regional Technical Director for Research, says a research output is nothing when it is past due and no longer required and needed.
References
Reyes, J.C. 1995. Support Systems for R & D. University of the Philippines Open University.
Zaballa, M.C. 2011. Evaluation of PGMA in Masbate and Camarines Norte. Central Bicol State University of Agriculture.
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