DENNIS R. ARPIA Trustee An advocate of people empowerment and sustainable rural development, Dennis started his career in government service as a Technical Staff and Political Officer in the Sangguniang Panglungsod of Lucena City in Quezon province, from 1999 to 2004; and in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Quezon province from 2004 to 2012.
With his university background in public administration, Dennis served in the Office of the Administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA) from 2013 to 2014. As Head Executive Assistant, Dennis was a member of the National Committee on Palay Procurement, Rice Distribution and Logistics Management. He also had an oversight role in public and media relations, stakeholders’ cooperation and personnel development.
Dennis then moved on to the Department of Agriculture (DA), serving in different offices at national and regional levels. In the Office of the DA Secretary, he played major roles as Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Director for Information and Communication from 2014 to 2015. Thereafter, he served in concurrent capacity as Chief Administrative Officer in the Records Division and as Deputy Chief of Staff/OIC Director from 2015 to 2016.
From 2017 to 2021, he was assigned to the DA Regional Field Office (RFO) IV-A. He worked under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) as Social and Environment Safeguard Officer (2017-2018), I-Support Component Head (2019-2020) and Regional Project Director (2020). He also concurrently served in the Field Operations Division as OIC Chief from 2017 to 2019.
Still in the DA RFO IV-A in 2021, he was designated by the Department Secretary as Head of the Task Force on Hogs Supply-Market Link to the National Capital Region (NCR) and as Regional Technical Director for Operations (Assistant Regional Director).
In early 2021, Dennis served as Assistant Director and National Focal Person for the Department’s KADIWA and Market Linkages Program, holding office in the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service in the national office in Quezon City. Again in concurrent capacity, he was the Interim NCR Operations Head. By mid-2021, he was appointed Director III and moved on as OIC-Regional Executive Director to other challenging regions: to the DARFO XII in South Cotabato (2021-2022) and to DA-RFO IX in Zamboanga del Sur (2022).
As Director IV, his most recent appointment, beginning in 2023, is as Regional Executive Director of DA-RFO VI in Iloilo.
With his community orientation and social links, Dennis was elected to the PRRM Board of Trustees, serving from 2012 to 2015.
From his almost three decades of government service at local and regional levels, Dennis continues to ably perform as a strong-willed and results-oriented development worker, building on his solid background in organizational management, crisis management, effective communication, and community organizing.