October 13, 2022
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has paid its last respects to Milagros Dawa-Hernandez who once served the agency as its Deputy Director General for 18 years.
During a necrological service last Oct. 6, Director General Danilo Cruz said the advancements introduced by Dawa-Hernandez brought TESDA “to new and never-before-reached heights, and these continue to support the Agency’s strategic directions to this day.”
“It will be very difficult to forget our DDG Mila Dawa-Hernandez. For as long as TESDA and tech-voc continue to change and touch the lives of our kababayans, her legacy lives on,” he said.
Though she retired in 2012, Dawa-Hernandez was credited for many of TESDA’s current programs and services, as well as for largely initiating the agency’s ISO certification. She passed away last Oct. 1.
During her term, Dawa-Hernandez focused on the development and institutionalization of policies, quality management systems, and procedures to support the agency’s strategic directions.
DDG Dawa-Hernandez started her public service career in 1975 as a Supervising Manpower Development Officer at the Cagayan Valley regional office of the then National Manpower and Youth Council, which later became TESDA.
She quickly climbed the organizational ladder to become the Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning of TESDA in 1995.
During her distinguished, 37-year career in government, Dawa-Hernandez was also assigned as the Department of Labor and Employment’s Labor Attaché at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, Japan in 1993, and was likewise cross-posted as Deputy Administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in 2003.
In 2004, she reassumed her post at TESDA as its Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning. Notably, she chaired the TESDA Core Change Management Team that worked on the rationalization plan of TESDA under Executive Order 366.
As an active advocate of technical education and skills development, she was part of the Philippine delegation to various international forums such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum - Human Resources Development (APEC-HRD), Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and, Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), among others. (30)
Share this page
