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| Prosy Abarquez-de la Cruz, A (Formidable) Inertia in Motion |
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AN engaging conversation with Prosy de la Cruz last Monday afternoon opened up a Pandora’s box (sans the negative connotation) of ideas and ideals. The one-on-one interview made this writer blurt the obvious -- that Prosy is indeed, a woman who’s in constant motion, unstoppable and unrelenting in enacting her philosophies in life.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines with a BS Degree in Food Technology, Prosy was the quintessential activist against martial law during the Marcos regime. She was a tireless advocate for democracy and a member of Makibaka, a women’s organization in the Philippines -- a fact that prompted her parents to bring her to America in the hopes that she would channel her energies less invasively. But the move made her even more fastidious and painstaking, both in her professional and personal endeavors. And while in the United States, she became an active member of the National Committee for the Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines, and later a founding member and a regional officer for the Alliance for Philippine Concerns in Los Angeles.
During her immigrant life-years in the United States, Prosy’s first essay appeared in The Los Angeles Times. Prosy also started writing for the Food and Drug Cosmetic Division Newsletter published by Quality Press. "The American Society for Quality is an international group of over 100,000 quality professionals in various industries in manufacturing: pharmaceuticals, software, cosmetics, food, automotive, education, healthcare, government, including retail. They pioneer a lot of the quality trends in the United States," she said.
Feisty and always brimming with groundbreaking ideas, Prosy convinced her colleagues in the society to participate in electoral matters in a strategic planning during the tumultuous years of the first Bush administration. She reiterated that "they were the initiators of quality projects in the United States...so why not get involved with electoral reform?" After that, the organization communicated frequently with the White House and are now at the forefront, lobbying for healthcare issues like 90,000 Americans who die of prescription errors each year.
She got through to them because of her job as a food and drug administrator for the California Department of Public Health. She was the first Filipina to be appointed in 1992, along with two Caucasian colleagues. Prosy was in charge of the Southern California region, armed only with a handful of people and very limited resources. She asserted herself despite the challenges, which, in her mind, became an opportunity for change instead of a hurdle.
She started working with an organization called Food Industry Business Roundtable (FIBR). She shared her vision-- "that the government should be the leader of change in the industry. That they should be training small manufacturers on how to comply with health and safety codes. And also, at the government level, we get to see a landscape of manufacturers -- whether small, medium or large-scale. We knew in which company these particular good manufacturing practices will work. We wanted to raise the awareness of small firms (like mom and pop stores or small bakeries) with regards to health and safety codes," Prosy narrated. She suggested that small manufacturers undergo a training called the House of Safety and Quality. "Let’s help them build a house for food safety and quality," Prosy added.
"Some of the firms that we trained, we asked them to bring us a team of three." Prosy asserted that in order for an organization to see change, you have to have a team of three people to seed it and nurture it. Dramatic improvements ensued for companies who participated in the training. "It’s 9 full Saturdays. The first session had 18 instructors from various fields -- government, academe, industry and quality professionals.
Different perspectives and a well-rounded group from various professions brought more clarity. Everyone realized the essence of the bigger picture in food manufacturing and quality management systems.
"The owners started partnering with their employees. It became (in the words of President-elect Obama), a ‘we’ instead of an ‘us’ and ‘them," Prosy quipped.
In January 2004, after working for 27 years, Prosy retired from the California Department of Public Health. She was appointed soon after by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as Civil Service Commissioner in August 2005.
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