With the passing of the EBET (Enterprise Based Education and Training) Law, attention in the human resource management field has been refocused away from degree-giving courses (which often take too long and produce graduates who do not possess the skills the market demands) towards shorter and more jobs-oriented upskilling, re-skilling and retooling programs.  This is especially true in the TESDA-type of programs which President BBM highlighted when in his second SONA he mentioned the need to reshape the  senior year of the K to 12 basic education curriculum away from college-orientation towards more skills training  in technical schools like those in Dualtech, Don Bosco schools, MFI Technical Institute, the Cebu-based Center for Technology and Enterprise (CITE) and similar technical  training institutes under the supervision of TESDA.  I must, however, point out that for close to sixty years now, the Center for Research and Communication (which eventually evolved into the University of Asia and the Pacific) has been offering upskilling, reskilling and retooling program for people in business and education. From the very beginning, the educational programs of CRC were oriented, not to granting college or masteral degrees, but to produce the distinct skills in actual demand by Philippine business at every stage of the development of the Philippine economy.  The granting of academic degrees was always incidental.

            We at UA&P consider the Strategic Business Economics Program (SBEP) as the upskilling, reskilling and retooling program par excellence because it addresses the learning needs of the highest leaders of the land, from CEOs of private enterprises to the highest government officials in the executive and legislative departments in particular.  Modesty aside, we have upskilled top officials in the Legislative (members of the House or Representatives and Senators) as well as in the Executive (Cabinet members and the current President himself) in addition to the top executives of large and medium-sized enterprises of the Philippines and other Asian countries.

            It was during the first four years of Martial Law in the early seventies when the authoritarian leader started on the right foot by appointing to his Cabinet some of the most qualified technocrats who set the pace for economic policy formulation and reforms.   These were mostly trained in the United States and came back with their respective advanced degrees in management, economics and related fields, such as Armand Fabella, Alejandro Melchor, Gerardo Sicat, Vicente Paterno, Onofre Corpuz and Jobo Fernandez.  These officials were professionalizing the government services and thus were increasingly using the more scientific tools in formulating monetary, fiscal, trade, industrial, investment and labor policies in order to attain the government’s goals of economic growth, low inflation, and a more equitable distribution of income and wealth. 

            At that time, we already had organized the Friends of CRC to help build and grow the fledgling think tank that Dr. Jesus Estanislao founded in 1967, together with a few other professionals from business, academe the mass media.  Among these Friends of CRC  (FOC) were the CEOs of leading business enterprises like the United Laboratories, Victorias Milling Corporation, the Ayala Corporation, Meralco, Philex Mining, Benguet Corporation, Warner Barnes, Smith Bell and a few others. As we started to give economic briefings to the top management of these FOCs, we realized that they needed some upskilling and reskilling in the areas of macroeconomics (monetary, fiscal, trade policies) even if they had obtained  their graduate degrees in business from some of the best schools in the U.S. like Harvard, Wharton, Northwestern, Chicago, Columbia., etc.  The economics courses they took in their respective MBA programs were inadequate to prepare them to understand the intricacies of policy formulation in a developing country like the Philippines.

            We were inspired to design an upskilling program in the field of macroeconomics and business economics for top executives which we called the MBE (Master in Business Economics) program.  At that juncture of the young life of CRC, we were fortunate to have been given special permission by the Department of Education through some enlightened officials to grant a masteral degree in any area related to business or industrial economics.  Sooner or later, however, we realized that the vast majority of those who enrolled in the MBE program were no longer interested in obtaining a master’s degree by capping the classroom work with a thesis.  They had no time to write a thesis.  Besides, a good number of them already had an MBA degree.  In fact, through these more than fifty years of existence of what we renamed the Strategic Business Economics Program  (SBEP), less than ten percent of the participants chose to write a thesis and obtain the MBE.  The vast majority of them were only interested in acquiring the additional knowledge and skills they obtained by participating in the SBEP.  As the years progressed, we attracted top officials not only from the business world, but also from government in all the various branches (executive, legislative and judiciary) as well as from academic institutions and nongovernmental organizations, including the Catholic Church.  We are proud to mention that one of those government officials who participated in the SBEP when he was Governor of the Province of Ilocos Norte was the current President of the Philippines, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The current Secretary of Finance, Ralph Recto, also participated in the same Program.  Over these last 50 years, we have produced more than 1,000 top executives well versed in both macroeconomics and business economics. 

            For those top and middle-level executives who are interested today in upskilling themselves in macroeconomics and business economics, let me quote here from the UA&P website about the nature and purpose of the Strategic Economics Program (SBEP), a unique  executive education program that combines the powerful discipline of economics with the best and cutting-edge practices of businesses, both here and abroad.  The SBEP aims to equip top-brass corporate executives,  high-ranking government officials and entrepreneurs to craft innovative strategies and robust business models in the new environment strongly influenced by the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0  (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotization and Artificial Intelligence.)  I have been reminding top executives in the Philippine business world that those who obtained their MBA or other advanced degrees related to business even just five years ago are already obsolete technology-wise today and have to upskill themselves in the field of digitalization, especially as regards Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics. In fact, to show that I walk the talk, I accompanied some 30 participants in our current SBEP course to travel to Barcelona during the first week of May 2025 to take a micro-credentials course on Artificial Intelligence in Europe’s top business school, the IESE Business School.

            The SBEP enhances senior executives’ capabilities in coping with the latest global, regional and local economic trends, the inevitable rise of digitalization and AI, the primal importance of leadership and human capital, in the context of rapidly evolving knowledge-based economies.  The program accomplishes this by focusing on strategic thinking and governance, the discipline of economics as applied to business, best business practices, personal development, and orientation to the common good (especially as advocated by the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church).  The SBEP’s experience of running successfully this executive education program for the past 50 years has involved training more than 1,800 senior executives from 26 countries and from hundreds of companies, not only top corporations, but also medium-sized, dynamic enterprises, professionals (e.g. lawyers, doctors, engineers, CPAs, architects), and government officials, including the police and the military.  The diversity and C-suite level of the participants contribute to a  truly enriching exchange of theory, experience, wisdom, and networking, all of which the SBEP alumni highly appreciate.

            With a hybrid program delivery, convenient class schedule lasting eleven months, top-class and business-honed professors, and networking opportunities involving key government officials and business leaders, participants return to their respective organizations re-energized and equipped with strategies and innovative solutions leading them to success in the new global business economic landscape.  For those participants who decide to write the equivalent of a  masteral thesis (under the guidance of one of the professors and aided by some UA&P-trained business economists), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has authorized UA&P to grant them the degree of Master in Business Economics.  Those who decide not to write a thesis but have participated in a required minimum of sessions are granted a Certificate in Business Economics (CBE).  Those who want more information about the SBEP can contact (632) 8637-0912 to 26.  To continued.