Grains - 3rd Quarter : 2012 - NFA

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Volume 40 No. 3 July - September 2012 36 Features We are all wanderers. We can’t always be in a single place forever. We need to move on and find another place to explore, another nook to call our comfort zone. Sometimes, leaving is our only choice. This holds true with state workers. No matter how much enjoyment and fulfillment we get working with our co-workers slash friends, there will come a time when we must leave and bid our agency adieu. No matter how painful the thought is to some people, this is a reality we can’t pass up. More or less, this is how Director Cris Mangaoang is feeling right now. He is scheduled to retire in December. For him, it’s a bittersweet goodbye. “I’m happy and grateful for the NFA. I have no regrets,” Director Mangaoang revealed during an interview conducted in his office in Tacurong City. A graduate of Agricultural Engineering from G. Araneta University, Director Cris said although he looks forward to his retirement, he can’t help but reminisce the 38 years he spent with NFA. “I started as a contractual consultant in 1974. Then in 1976 I was the first division chief of the Research and Extension Program, which eventually became the Technical Research and Services Department (TRSD) of today,” he narrates. He only left TRSD and got his first field assignment in 2009 as director in Caraga. We conducted Photo by Lucky Cordero the interview in late May and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. “I still have plenty of things to do, more tasks to accomplish, particularly here in Region 12,” he said. His staff attest to the fact that the energetic Director Cris visits provincial offices under his care even on weekends. The NFA is like no other, he enthuses. Here you’ll find co-workers who will sympathize with you in times of trouble. When I got sick, he shares, I felt the loving care of my staff which I couldn’t receive from my family at that time because of distance. The director says his staff will constantly remind him to take his medicines and to take things slow. “I feel honest to goodness TLC (tender loving care) and I bet if I were somewhere else, I will not get the same warm treatment,” he said. Director Cris plans to teach in La Union, his hometown, after his retirement from the food agency. “I will still be very busy after NFA. But this time, I will have more time to spend valuable time with my family, especially with my three apos.” Asked to which fruit he can compare the NFA, Director Cris gamely said NFA is like a banana “because of its accessibility”. He said that through NFA he was able to serve many people and have gone to several places. “I will remember NFA wherever I go. I owe most of what I have to this agency. I had the chance to work with amazing individuals. What more can I ask for?” he declares. We spend most of our waking hours in the office. Truly, when you’ve spent a whole lifetime in an agency and made friends with your colleagues, leaving becomes an arduous task. Some even go through serious case of separation anxiety. But for Director Cris, he’s leaving with happy thoughts. He’s about to conclude his remaining months in the agency with flying colors. As parting words, Director Cris wishes to thank his colleagues in the NFA. “I am not only leaving behind an agency which became a part of me for 38 years. I’m also leaving behind friends,” he said. (MA. LINA G. REYES) DIRECTOR cRIS mANGAOANG: S ERVICE IN F ULL SWING
Features 37 A retired employee I will be, at the close of business hours of October 23, 2012. By then I have logged more than three decades and a half of government service. I started working with then NGA as a Casual Field Investigator at P23.00 per day. To my recollection, I had been assigned ‘in the interest of the service’ to five different departments and four different executive offices, aside from my appointment as the NFA Council Secretary for two years. And I am also concurrently the Corporate Secretary of the Food Terminal Incorporated, a subsidiary of NFA, since 1997 up to the present. All my assignments are here at the Central Office. Once I desired to be assigned at the Field Office, but the chance never came. Even as I only have the NFA Central Office as my place of assignment, working with the NFA gave me the opportunity to see different places in the Philippines, as I from time to time, went on travel to our regional and provincial offices. My travels enabled me to meet new acquaintances, aside from my coemployees in the Central Office. Many of them, whether assigned here at the Central Office or at the Field Offices, became not only my acquaintances but my friends. As they came from different backgrounds and persuasions, relating with them broadened my knowledge on human relationships. I came to learn how to appropriately fine tune my behavior as I relate with them. It was a learning that became an asset of mine. Basically knowing with whom I was working, lessened the burden of my work, as I slowly climb the NFA corporate ladder. This circumstance has constantly reminded me to sincerely perform my work, lest I betray the trust and confidence that my co-employees have entrusted upon me. As an aside, sometime in July 2001, when I underwent a quadruple heart bypass at the Philippine Heart Center, the outpouring of prayers and financial support of NFA employees was tremendous. And my wife was surprised by the show of support, as they came not only from here at the Central Office but also from our offices from tuguegarao to Jolo and Tawi-Tawi. I told her, “Ma, the outpouring of support is a classic proof that NFA employees are indeed friends when we needed help”. Working with NFA undeniably enabled me to earn a decent living, pay for our children’s education, have a house of our own and enjoy the amenities that came with it. As a matter of fact, I owe it likewise to the management of NFA that I was able to see the United States and other Asian countries on several occasions. In retrospect, I now thank the Almighty, who in His eternal goodness had given me the graces to remain true to my oath as a public servant. And not only that, He also had already provided for, as early as the initial date of my government service, what I will reap as my retirement benefits. What or how will I be after NFA? I will be working with the office of my late father-in-law. By that time, my boss will not be an administrator but my commander in chief, a lady boss whom I married 37 years ago. Photo by Nilo Manongsong Atty. Rafael t. Flores: R etiring with a smile
Page 2 and 3: On the cover The NFA’s 40th anniv
Page 4 and 5: 4 Grainsnotes Life begins Before I
Page 6 and 7: 6 Across the Country NFA Celebrates
Page 8 and 9: 8 Across the Country PFAC MEETING.
Page 10 and 11: 10 Across the Country Region 5 assi
Page 12 and 13: 12 Across the Country submitted bef
Page 14 and 15: 14 Across the Country training on g
Page 16 and 17: 16 Across the Country NCR NFA Provi
Page 18 and 19: 18 Features Call time was set at 5:
Page 20 and 21: 20 Features What’s in store for N
Page 24 and 25: 24 Special Feature The creation of
Page 26 and 27: Volume 40 No. 3 July - September 20
Page 32 and 33: 32 Features T HEY M AKE NFA PROUD .
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Page 38 and 39: 38 Features Manager ruben manatad:

Grains - 3rd Quarter : 2012 - NFA

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