DA-BAR held its First Management Committee Meeting under new leadership on 7 November 2022 at 4F DA-BAR Conference Room and via Cisco Webex. 

Newly-designated OIC-director Joell H. Lales and OIC-assistant director Dr. Anthony B. Obligado presided over the meeting. Lales, at the helm, laid down his marching orders in support of the bureau’s new tagline, Raising the BAR of Excellence in R4DE. 

“Raising the bar of excellence for the purpose of our pursuit. We wanted to show the impact pathway and set standards at the level of division to unit levels," said director Lales as he introduced the new DA-BAR Research for Development and Extension (R4DE) Agenda. 

‘Let’s play an active role in going down [focus on small universities] with an inclusive approach—inviting state universities, local government universities, farmer cooperative associations, and private sectors. We want better linkages in the poorest provinces,” he added. 

He underscored that the bureau will focus on strengthening its proposed flagship programs, the SCALE UP program and the Technology Business Incubation. Further to this is the support to R4DE mechanisms, one of which is support to capacity enhancement of R4D facilities. 

DA-BAR ManCom members, composed of key officials, divisions, and unit heads, conduct regular meetings to discuss R4DE agenda, programs, and activities; recent directives and pressing concerns; administrative and financial concerns, and human resources management, among other things. (### Ma. Eloisa H. Aquino)