Navy Far Ahead in Terms of Good Governance

BY: LCOL EDGARD A AREVALO PN(M)
Director, Naval Public Affairs Office


“The Navy is modernizing; it is sailing very fast towards becoming a strong and credible that our maritime nation can be truly proud of. Because of my work in the Institute for Solidarity in Asia and for the Office of the President, I can tell you that the Navy is the most advanced in pursuit of good governance. The Navy is very far ahead,” a well-known and highly respected statesman said during a governance forum in the Philippine Navy (PN) Friday, 18 June 2010 at the Philippine Navy Officers Club, Naval Station Jose Francisco, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.



Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao is a Laureate Awardee of the international corporate governance network and a recipient of the 1992 Philippine Legion of Honor. In his capacity as Chair of Institute for Solidarity, he took occasion to make said declaration during the 5th Leg of the PN Governance Forum Series of 2010. And true to its commitment to excellence through good governance, the Navy invited Mr. David Michael V Padua, the Director of the Naga College Foundation’s Typhoon Preparedness Center.



During his talk, Mr. Padua who has earned the reputation as Typhoon specialist shared his insights, experience, and expertise on the topic “Typhoon Preparedness in Disaster Risk Governance”. He explained how he employed Typhoon 2000, the first web portal for tropical cyclones in the Philippines that he developed, in propagating information about typhoon information. He lectured “Typhoon 101” to deal on the basics of typhoons – their nature, behavior, characteristics, and how the mastery of these can save or mitigate loss of lives and destruction to properties.



The lecture was broadcast live to all six (6) naval forces in the country from Luzon to Mindanao via the Virtual Private Network – Video Tele-Conferencing (VPN-VTC). This is a telecommunication technology which allows two or more naval sites to interact via two—way video and audio transmissions simultaneously in real time. The VPN-VTC also allowed officers and personnel from said units to interact with the speaker.



This was the first time that the PN Governance Forum and a big gathering in the Navy employed this breakthrough video teleconferencing for the Team Navy. This same capability shall empower the Navy to deal with and respond to calls during disasters and calamities. Disaster response task units from the different naval forces will be aided with real time information of the emergencies as they evolve and deal with them accordingly.