Coming off the heels of a successful surveillance audit in which the agency passed with flying colors, selected employees of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) took part in a three-day training course for Auditing ISO 9001:2015 QMS on October 22-25, 2019 at Apacible Conference Room B.

Conducted by a team from the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) led by resource person Eden Arago, the training sought to further develop the participants’ knowledge and understanding of the concepts, principles, techniques and practices of performing an effective internal audit in accordance with ISO 19011:2018.

Also supplementing said training is the review of the ISO 9001:2008, and how they are applied in the context of an internal audit, thus improving the conduct of the activity.

Utilizing a variety of methods ranging from Interactive Lectures, Discussions, Workshops and Group Presentations, the Training Activity also saw the participants engaging in a mock Audit activity in which they were paired by office in inspecting and auditing their respective assigned PCAF Operating Unit. Just like in the actual process, they were made to list their observations and recommend the necessary action in addressing deficiencies. These were later presented before the body as part of the culminating session.

Prior to this training, the DAP also conducted an Orientation meeting on ISO 9001:2015 QMS to serve as a refresher for the participants.  Topics such as the need for QMS in the government, description of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS, and the process on how to achieve this standard were discussed over the course of the activity. – AE