11-24 January 2003, Manila - Office Modernisation-Institution Building

Following the successful outcome of an ECAP-sponsored expert mission on “Office Modernisation-Institution Building,? the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines has requested a follow-up activity to be included in the next national ECAP plan.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the Philippines has recently undergone a change of status – now it reports to the Office of the President. Among the important implications of this change are an end to government subsidy and the need to be self-financing. Given the urgency of planning and resource management required to meet this objective, ECAP deployed two experts, Mr. Jose Mauricio from INPI and Mr. Bernd Scharfenberger, on a mission in January to assess the situation and study how IPO can become a self-financing institution. Following a series of constructive discussions with IPO staff, the two experts have drawn a detailed report that includes specific, practical recommendations on how the IPO can achieve the goal of being a self-sustaining organization.

“The observations and recommendations presented in the preliminary report of Mr. Mauricio and in the intermediary report of Mr. Scharfenberger are very helpful and can be easily implemented immediately in our office,? IPO Director General Emma C. Francisco wrote in a letter to Dr Ingo Kober, President of the European Patent Office to thank ECAP for the mission.

One of the points highlighted in the mission report is the need to conduct a more comprehensive study on management resources of the organization in order to formulate policies and measures that will support the final objective of self-sustainability. The IPO has therefore proposed a follow-up mission to focus on audit and management of resources, as part of ECAP National Plan for the Philippines in the 2003-2004 project year.

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