February 22, 2022— Geared towards excellence in human resource management, the Department of Education Central Office (DepEd CO) received its Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management (PRIME-HRM) Maturity Level II recognition from the Civil Service Commission National Capital Region (CSC-NCR) last February 14.

In a virtual awarding ceremony, DepEd CO, under the leadership of Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, formally received the certification for the PRIME-HRM Maturity Level II from CSC Director II of Field Office Makati Phillip C. Apostol.

“We thank the Civil Service Commission for recognizing our efforts to improve our HR system. This journey has been long but fruitful. We intend to keep on improving our systems and processes to empower not only our HRM officers but also our personnel,” Secretary Briones said.

For the first time since the inception of PRIME HRM in the agency, DepEd passed the CSC-NCR assessment on all four core HRM systems, namely Recruitment, Selection, and Placement (RSP), Learning and Development (L&D), Performance Management (PM), and Rewards and Recognition (R&R).

“We have witnessed in the Department of Education Central Office the change that happened in their HR systems, practices and competencies through PRIME-HRM. Nakita natin ‘yung desire ng CO PRIME-HRM team to be ‘PRIMEd’ and capacitated, nakita natin ‘yung series of meetings, series of trainings, series of orientations conducted to capacitate the HR focal persons, the top management, the top committees, all officials and employees of DepEd CO. Nakita natin ang bayanihan. We are now reaping the fruits of our hard labor,” Dir. Apostol shared.

After the meticulous review and audit of its HR policies and processes from the team of assessors from the CSC-NCR, DepEd CO is initially granted CSC accreditation or the authority to take final action on appointments.

“Hindi lamang po dito ito nagtatapos. Hindi masusukat ang galing at success ng isang organisasyon kung mananatili ito kung saan ito narito ngayon. Sa halip, ito ay isang hamon para muli natin akyatin ang sunod na baitang and hopefully ay maka-level three tayo. Hopefully, after that, we can claim that DepEd, the largest bureaucracy in the government, is the pioneer in this excellence,” Undersecretary for Human Resource Management and Organization Development Wilfredo Cabral stated.

At present, DepEd CO is awaiting for the results of the CSC Central Office’s validation and regional recommendation for the agency’s PRIME-HRM Bronze Award. Upon its official conferment for Bronze, additional CSC incentives and privileges shall be granted to DepEd as Level II compliant agency.

“With the strong support of our top management, DepEd successfully passed the assessment of our HRM systems. We thank our Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, our ExeCom and Central Office ManCom, the employees of our central office for giving top priority to PRIME HRM preparations and activities,” BHROD Director Atty. Anne Rachel Miguel said.

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