01062020 ISO-certified PR – Secretary John R. Castriciones and Undersecretary Lucius Jun Jun G. Malsi, DAR ISO-Quality Management Service Representative, proudly show the ISO certification to bureau officials and employees during today’s flag-raising ceremony.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Central Office was conferred today the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 certification. This is proof of the agency’s abiding to internationally recognized management systems.
“This certification is proof of our commitment and dedication in giving our best in serving and providing lands, support services and agrarian justice to our farmer-beneficiaries,” DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones said.
“I will ensure that strict compliance with the ISO standards is implemented,” he added.
Careful and deliberate preparation by its top management and employees led to two successful audits in 2019. Castriciones expressed his gratitude to those who took part in the certification process.
“This is a collective effort of the DAR. It signifies the continued improvement of DAR’s service to our stakeholders,” said Undersecretary Lucius Jun Jun G. Malsi, the agency’s ISO-Quality Management Service Representative.
“We shouldn’t take this ISO certificate as a stiff rule, but rather, a tool to guide us in the effective implementation of DAR’s mandate. We will continually improve our systems and processes to better serve the farmers,” added Malsi
The ISO certification officially took effect on December 6, 2019 and will expire on December 5, 2020.
Aside from the central office, five offices of the agency have also been conferred with an ISO certification. These are the DAR regional offices in Calabarzon and Eastern Visayas; and the provincial offices of Batangas, Pangasinan and Sultan Kudarat.
The ISO 9001 is based on a number of quality management principles which includes the following elements: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making and relationship management.
