IPCAP Constitution Drafting

Yes, we've been into it for months now. While we may have been stalled in its drafting due to more urgent concerns in the past months (from October 2006 up to February 2007), we finally started to make headway starting last March 17. And yesterday, April 28, we had our second session. We have chosen three names (for SEC registration purposes): IPCAP or Integrated Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines, the PCAP or Professional Counselors Association of the Philippines, and the APCP or Association of Professional Counselors of the Philippines. We are doing this in compliance with RA9258 Section 21's provision for "one (1) and only registered and accredited national organization of registered/licensed guidance counselors which the Board, subject to approval by the Commission, shall recognize and accredit after consultation with all existing organizations of registered and licensed guidance counselors and, if possible, with all those who are not members of any of the said organization." This undertaking has already started last year February 2006 under the able leadership of the current Accredited Professional Organization (APO) PGCA President Dr. Rosa Ma. Llanes. Just a little review of history, 6 counseling-related organizations have been coming together since then to organize this, namely: PGCA, PACERS, PACC, GCP, CDAP, and PNU's PAPSHP. Other counseling-related organizations are welcome to this undertaking. In fact, one of the reasons for the delay of this constitution's formulation was in order for other counseling-related orgs to come and join. The invitation remains up to this time. The said currently-drafted Constitution will have to be ratified by all counselors as well as submitted to the PRBGC and PRC for approval.

You might ask what shall happen to PGCA?

Currently, as of Nov. 16, 2005, PGCA has been granted its stature as APO, and as such, it has spearheaded the efforts to organize the IPCAP in compliance with RA9258 Section 21's provisions. While it has been at the forefront for the professionalization of guidance & counseling, it also currently has the largest number of members nationwide. When the IPCAP shall have been approved, PGCA shall then become only one of the counseling-related organizations. Counseling-related organizations, for them to "survive" shall then have to work towards specialization. If I may volunteer a thought here, for example, PACERS will have then to be clear about its specialty - counselor education, research and supervision. CDAP shall also then have to specialize in career development concerns. In our February 2007 meeting at Christ the King Seminary, CEFAM came in, and in the future, might be the specialist on Family and Marital Counseling specialist organization. PGCA as of now has members who cannot be licensed due to their not being MA-graduates. Even then, it can continue to serve as the organization where our future counselors can continue to update and belong. One can now see that Counseling in the Philippines shall then have to evolve, if it has to remain relevant and apt in its vision to be a catalyst for the enhancement of the mental health of every member in the Philippine society.

I pray then that everyone involved, particularly the Counselors, participate in the formulation of IPCAP's Constitution, and continually update themselves on this matter since they will inevitably be affected.

Among those effects will the the sense of "belonging." What do I mean here?

In our deliberations yesterday as to IPCAP's organizational structure, we have thought about developing "regional councils" which shall be organized through the "regional assembly" which shall meet annually. We have temporarily identified four regional councils: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR (you might think about imperial Manila here haha). The current APO, the PGCA shall then have to ensure that these said regional councils shall be duly constituted. The current PGCA as APO Membership Committee shall be a key group in working towards this direction since they have the current roster of registered Counselors.

The regional assembly shall elect 11 members of the Council, with the following positions: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Business Manager, PRO, and four other Board Members. All four regional council presidents (L, V, M, NCR) shall then be official candidates for election to the Chairmanship of the Governing Board. The prevailing sentiment is for the Governing Board Chair and Vice-Chair be "nationally elected" (much like the President of the Philippines) during the annual regional assembly or convention, and shall serve only ONE TERM, without re-election. Now, there will be two Presidents whose positions in their regional councils shall have to be taken over by their respective Vice-Presidents. Those two affected regional councils shall then have to have two Vice-Presidents, the first will have the right of succession when their President gets elected as Chair or Vice-Chair in the Governing Board. The second Vice-President shall then become the Vice-President of the regional council. The Governing Board shall basically be the policy-making body of this integrated organization.

We are currently forming the Executive Committee (Execom) on the national and local levels. There is a suggestion that once the Chair and Vice-Chair shall have been elected, together with the regional council presidents as Governing Board, its first act is to appoint the Secretary of the Governing Board. The Secretary of the Governing Board shall automatically become the Executive Director of the Executive Committee. There shall likewise be appointed two more Execom members: a Finance Officer, and an Administrative Officer who shall be the Secretary of the Execom. Execom staff or co-workers shall then be hired. The Secretary of the Governing Board shall not have voting rights in the Governing Board. Whatever the Execom does shall always be under the inspiration and supervision of the Governing Board. The same shall be done in the regional councils so that work for Counseling shall be done. Members can then expect the right service entitled to them. Remember, members pay! So they get served. And, yes before I forget, the Execom shall also be paid regularly. The idea is that it should be freed from any interest that may accumulate due to the impact of the position such as personal interests that may go against organizational and professional interests.

A Manual of Operations shall be constructed to guide the operations of the organization. We cannot afford individual personalities infringing on the fulfillment of the powers vested in the Governing Board as well as regional councils. As counselors, we are challenged to work as cleanly as possible, since we are, and will continue to be persons in the best position to influence others. When we talk of mental health, we include moral health as well. This is a mandate which we all share with the first Counselor, Christ Himself.

Pray we succeed. God bless