Yearly, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), as part of its advocacy of recognizing the skills and uplifting the morale of all government officials and employees of the land, holds its Honor Award Program by giving rewards and recognition to exemplary public servants for their service, contribution to the society, and display of ethical practices.
This year, the Commission again recognizes such individuals and civil servants. As in the past, the awardees are chosen based from nominations from the different sectors of the society as well as individuals and are screened based on the performance of their duties and responsibilities.
Among the awardees is none other than the President of the Marinduque State College, Dr. Merian Catajay-Mani, who received Dangal ng Bayan Regional Award, and automatically qualified her as candidate for the national level.
Dr. Catajay-Mani is a former professor and has served as Research Director and Vice President for Research and Development of Romblon State University. She took her oath and assumed her post as president of the MSC on September 16, 2015.
Dr. Mani is known for being a team leader, an environmentalist, an academic leader, and author. She is also one of those advancing studies on how to fight climate change and is an advocate of gender and development programs. She also serves as a mediator, and consultant in different organizations.
She has been tagged as a woman who represents the new “IT” of the public service.
In an interview with Romblon News Network, she said: “Wala po akong masabi. Talagang overwhelmed. I know it was not all my effort, it was the consolidated effort of the members of Marinduque State College and our network and linkage. Ang lahat pong ito ay pinagsama-samang trabaho at dedikasyon hindi lang ang MSC kung di ang mga kasamahan namin sa community. So, this is for MSC and Marinduque. Alam n’yo po, ang tanging kapital ko ay ang inspirasyon sa tuwing nirerecite namin ‘yong panunumpa ng isang lingkod bayan, and it keeps on bringing on my mind that we have to level up whatever we offer to our stakeholders regardless of where they come from, they deserve the best for us.”
“Marinduque State College will be a research driven university by 2020,” Mani added.