With the passing of the EBET (Enterprise-Based Education and Training) Law, the focus in human resource management has shifted. No longer are we solely prioritizing lengthy degree courses that often produce graduates lacking market-demanded skills. Instead, attention is now firmly on shorter, more job-oriented upskilling, reskilling, and retooling programs. This is especially true for TESDA-type programs, which President BBM highlighted in his second SONA. He emphasized the need to reshape the K-12 basic education curriculum's senior year away from a college-centric approach towards more skills training in technical schools like Dualtech, Don Bosco, MFI Technical Institute, Cebu's Center for Technology and Enterprise (CITE), and similar TESDA-supervised institutes.

However, it’s important to note that for nearly sixty years, the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), which eventually evolved into the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), has been offering upskilling, reskilling, and retooling programs for business and education professionals. From its inception, CRC's educational programs were designed not to grant college or masteral degrees, but to cultivate the specific skills genuinely demanded by Philippine businesses at every stage of the nation's economic development. The granting of academic degrees was always secondary.

At UA&P, we consider the Strategic Business Economics Program (SBEP) to be the upskilling, reskilling, and retooling program par excellence. It addresses the learning needs of the highest leaders in the country, from CEOs of private enterprises to top government officials in the executive and legislative branches. Modesty aside, we have upskilled top officials in the Legislature (members of the House of Representatives and Senators) and the Executive (Cabinet members and the current President himself), in addition to top executives from large and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines and other Asian countries.

During the first four years of Martial Law in the early seventies, the authoritarian leader started on the right foot by appointing highly qualified technocrats to his Cabinet. These individuals, mostly US-trained with advanced degrees in management, economics, and related fields (such as Armand Fabella, Alejandro Melchor, Gerardo Sicat, Vicente Paterno, Onofre Corpuz, and Jobo Fernandez), set the pace for economic policy formulation and reforms. They were professionalizing government services, increasingly employing scientific tools in crafting monetary, fiscal, trade, industrial, investment, and labor policies to achieve government goals of economic growth, low inflation, and a more equitable distribution of income and wealth.

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

Inspired, we designed an upskilling program in macroeconomics and business economics specifically for top executives, which we called the MBE (Master in Business Economics) program. At that nascent stage of CRC, we were fortunate to receive special permission from the Department of Education, through 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 enrolled in the MBE program were no longer interested in obtaining a master's degree by capping their coursework with a thesis. They simply had no time to write one, and many already held an MBA. In fact, over the more than fifty years of existence of what we renamed the Strategic Business Economics Program (SBEP), less than ten percent of participants chose to write a thesis and obtain the MBE. The vast majority were solely interested in acquiring the additional knowledge and skills gained from participating in the SBEP. As the years progressed, we attracted top officials not only from the business world, but also from all branches of government (executive, legislative, and judiciary), as well as from academic institutions and non-governmental organizations, including the Catholic Church. We are proud to mention that one of the government officials who participated in the SBEP when he was Governor 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 top and middle-level executives interested in upskilling themselves in macroeconomics and business economics today, let me quote from the UA&P website regarding the nature and purpose of the Strategic Business Economics Program (SBEP). It's a unique executive education program that combines the powerful discipline of economics with the best and cutting-edge business practices, both local and international. 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 business-related degrees even just five years ago are already technologically obsolete today and must upskill themselves in digitalization, especially regarding 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 Barcelona during the first week of May 2025 to take a micro-credentials course on Artificial Intelligence at 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, and the primal importance of leadership and human capital, all within 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 an orientation to the common good (especially as advocated by the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church). The SBEP's 50 years of successfully running this executive education program has involved training over 1,800 senior executives from 26 countries and hundreds of companies—not just top corporations, but also medium-sized, dynamic enterprises, professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, engineers, CPAs, architects), and government officials, including the police and military. The diversity and C-suite level of the participants contribute to a truly enriching exchange of theory, experience, wisdom, and networking, all highly appreciated by SBEP alumni.

With a hybrid program delivery, a convenient eleven-month class schedule, 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 a professor and aided by 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 choose not to write a thesis but have participated in a required minimum of sessions are granted a Certificate in Business Economics (CBE). For more information about the SBEP, you can contact (632) 8637-0912 to 26. To be continued.