The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) maintains its International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 recertification as the agency passed its first surveillance audit on October 24, 2022.
Surveillance audit is a periodic audit conducted by a certification body to ensure that an organization or agency still meets the ISO standard requirements.
In the case of PCAF, an audit team from the Worldwide Quality Assurance (WQA) Philippines, Incorporated, led by Kristine Villaruel, assessed the agency’s requirements which includes documented information and evidence about the conformity to all the requirements of ISO standards, and other applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
The audit team also checked the performance monitoring, measuring, reporting and reviewing procedures against key performance objectives and targets, and verified the effectiveness of the implementation of corrective actions after the specified period.
The scope of PCAF’s Quality Management System (QMS) is participatory planning, monitoring and policy making in agriculture and fishery sectors including related support services. Meanwhile, the auditees include the top management, quality management representatives, internal audit, core and support services.
In the closing meeting, WQA revealed some of the positive observations during the audit.
According to the audit team, PCAF’s documented information shows evidence of good project and monitoring management of the team. They also highlighted the auditees’ good attitude and receptiveness to suggestions during the audit proper as vital in effective change management.
WQA also observed that the management system fulfills the requirement of the applied standards and PCAF has implemented controls related to policy resolutions and consultations.
Lastly, WQA noted PCAF management’s commitment to implement and improve the agency’s QMS. These are present in the Division Performance Commitment Review and approved Quality Objectives.
“Congratulations to all of us for passing the surveillance audit! I know we can be better next year by simply following the guidelines and following the timelines,” said PCAF Executive Director Nestor D. Domenden. | JB
