ISO certification conferred to DAR-Antique
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the province of Antique received the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 certification via virtual awarding after careful and deliberate preparations made by its top management and employees which led to two successful audits last year.
“We are very proud of this achievement because we are the first in Region 6 to be certified by the ISO,” said Florentino D. Siladan, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer.
DAR-Antique acquired the ISO 9001:2015 certification as the lead implementing agency of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which took effect last June 11, 2020, and will expire on June 10, 2023.
“This certification will ensure that the strict ISO standards will be observed in implementing Land Tenure Security Program (LTSP), Agrarian Justice Delivery (AJD) and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development and Sustainability Program (ARBDSP),” Siladan said.
Siladan said DAR-Antique’s ISO certification process began in 2018 with a series of consultations, preparation of quality management system (QMS) documentation, formulation of the ISO-aligned vision, mission and quality policies, conduct of various training workshops and orientations, internal quality audits and management reviews enabling the department to pass two external audits conducted by the engaged certifying body in 2019.
The Certification International Philippines Inc. (CIPI) conducted the audit and assessment of the department’s client requirements and quality approaches following the standard criteria set by the ISO.
The audits conducted include verification of the compliance of the management systems to the standard, checking of corrective actions taken to address the risk and opportunities and looking for improvements that can be made suitable to achieve the set objectives.
“Through this ISO certification, the goals and objectives we have established would ensure that our clients, the farmer-beneficiaries and other stakeholders, will be given quality service. Our mandate of distributing lands and providing agrarian justice and support services would be better-actualized wit this certification,” Siladan said.
The ISO 9001 is based on several quality management principles which include the following elements: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making and relationship management.
