The Federation Proposal Document

The following material I received last Feb. 04, 2006 during the first meeting of Guidance Counseling-related organizations which Dr. Rose Llanes (the PGCA President [2005-2008]) convened in the light of RA 9258 (Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004). As promised in my previous blog, here it is, verbatim, as in word for word, which I am typing directly from the copy, thanks to Dr. Ho, and of course Dr. Llanes who shared us this material in Feb. 4, 2006:

PROPOSAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FEDERATION OF GUIDANCE ASSOCIATIONS

Rationale

Among the requirements for the professionalization of Guidance is the establishment of a unified body of Guidance Counselors consisting of all the Guidance Associations of the Philippines. While the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association, Inc. has been appointed by the Professional Regulation Commission to be the Accredited Professional Association (APO) to assist in matters related to the professionalization, there is still need for all Guidance Associations to band together to form this unified body.

The PGPA, Inc. has taken the lead in moving towards (this) direction for several reasons:
- It is currently the APO
- It is the biggest and oldest existing Guidance Association
- It has more chapters all over the Philippines more than any of the other Guidance Associations
- It is the "Mother" of many of the other Guidance Associations whose members are also members of the PGCA, Inc.

Background

In the late 70's, then PGPA took the initiative of trying to put together all existing Guidance Associations. During the incumbency of Dr. Pining Gorospe and through the sponsorship of FAPE, a meeting was held among the representatives of Guidance Associations to brainstorm on the mechanics of getting all the Guidance Associations together. The reason then was to conserve the financial resources in funding many redundant conferences held by the different associations. While the live in conference held out of town was successful, nothing concrete came out of it. Neither was there any effort to take it up.

During the incumbency of Dr. Thelma Abiva, the PGPA hosted a general meeting of the officers of these associations under the chairmanship of Dr. Leticia Penano-Ho, then PGPA Secretary and Chair of the Committee to spearhead the initiative. Again, the effort, while acceptable to those who were present, did not produce concrete results.

Unification of all Guidance Associations is the need of the moment with the requirements of the Professionalization of Guidance.

The same idea is being broached to the other Guidance Associations.

General Mechanics

- Forming a Federation of all Guidance Associations which will eventually be the APO
- Membership in the Federation is a REQUIREMENT for all the Associations to exist and for ALL Guidance Counselors to be listed among the professionally accredited practitioners.
- The Federation will allow for the autonomy of each association who can have their own officers and members. It can also represent a specific area of specialization in Guidance.
- The Federation will automatically have for its executive council ALL the executive officers of the member Guidance Associations (President, Vice-President, Secretary Treasurer)
- The Federation will be chaired by the President of the PGPA being the biggest and oldest association.

Advantages

1. The Federation will address the need to unify all the Guidance Associations
2. It will allow autonomy of the existing Guidance Associations
3. There can be an agreement that each Guidance Association can represent an area in Guidance similar to the organization of the American Association for Counseling and Development (i.e., PACERS for counselor education, CDAP for career guidance, etc)
4. The Guidance Month can be properly celebrated with all the Guidance Associations taking part in it.
5. There will only be one annual conference which can save financial, material and human resources. Simultaneous workshops/meetings, etc can be held within the period of the conference for the specific area of specialization in Guidance.
6. Each area of Guidance Specialization can eventually put up standards for a higher level accreditation similar to the Fellows in Medicine (i.e., Psychiatry, Pediatrics, etc)

Problems Envisioned

- Possible perceived threat to the other Guidance Associations
- Turfing

Plan of Action

- Identification of a committee to continue the spade work which was done by PGCA (Dr. Leticia Penano-Ho wrote the Constitution and By-Laws of the Federation for the meeting in the 80's)
- Meeting of ALL the members of the executive boards of all Guidance Associations to formally approve the proposal
- Plan for the first General Annual Conference in May 2006 (if the idea is acceptable)
- Consultation with a lawyer regarding the technical details in the establishment of a federation

Prepared by DR. LETICIA PENANO-HO