The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has announced the appointment of Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano, its director for Region IX, as the new undersecretary for regional operations.
The Office of the Undersecretary for Regional Operations (OUSEC-RO) assists the DOST secretary in the formulation and implementation of policies, plans, programs and projects relative to regional operations.
It also handles the administrative or oversight supervision of regional offices and Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI), and the coordination and monitoring of programs and projects of senators and congressmen in their respective districts and identified areas.
Nazareth-Manzano has been the DOST head for Region IX, instituting various services, business operations, management systems, and tools for international standards. As a result, DOST IX became the first DOST regional office in the country to receive the ISO 9001 certification.
Nazareth-Manzano also led the conceptualization, system development, management, and implementation of the nationwide OneLab program, which resulted in the adoption of the Unified Laboratory Information Management System (ULIMS) by all 21 DOST Regional Laboratories and Research and Development Institutes laboratories.
The laboratories are linked through the OneLab referral module. The module has since then facilitated customers, enterprises, and industries access to specific DOST lab services anywhere in the country.
Her leadership has also pushed the agency’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program or SETUP, to generate 18,970 jobs, assist 721 small and medium enterprises, and benefit 13,601 people through knowledge creation training-seminars and workshops since 2010.
Nazareth-Manzano is also responsible for the agency’s attainment of the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) ? Commitment to Quality Management in 2012, again making DOST IX the first DOST regional office in the country to receive the award.
Through her initiatives, the development and implementation of various cost-efficient IT based systems in the DOST regional and provincial offices have been realized. These developments expanded the office’s operations, leading other government agencies to adapt and pattern their systems after DOST IX.
Her efforts also helped introduced the Internet in Zamboanga City in 1992. DOST IX is the first government office to utilize the Internet which indirectly influenced the rise of Internet Service Providers, pioneered by the ZamboNet under the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
