The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) conducted its first disposal of valueless records in front of its Records Management Unit Room on April 18, 2023, in compliance with the RA 9470 or the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) Act.

D’ Lacoste Enterprise, NAP’s official buyer, collected a total of 612 kilos, with the equivalent amount of PhP 2,319.48 from the Planning, Monitoring and Knowledge Management Division (PMKMD) and General Services Section’s (GSS) valueless records for disposal.

The disposal activity was coordinated by Zoraida De Guzman, GSS Staff, under the supervision of Marisa Lo, Section Chief of GSS. Larry Pardilla of the NAP, Auditor Jessey Rexele Belgira and Corazon Lalimarmo from PCAF’s Commission on Audit (COA). Bernard Masa, Jane Briña and Mary Ann Abasolo of PCAF witnessed the activity.

The guidelines governing the disposal of valueless records in government agencies is found in the NAP General Circular No. 2, series of 2009. It defines valueless records as those items for disposal, including damaged and outdated maps, charts, and other records that have reached their retention period.

The disposal is part of NAP’s function to strengthen the system of management and administration of archival records of all government offices, which is in line with the government’s efforts to accelerate the digitalization of services.

The disposal was authorized by NAP through the issuance of the Authority to Dispose of Records for PMKMD and GSS.

For purposes of RA 9470, records management refers to the managerial activities involved with respect to records creation, records maintenance and use, transmission, retention and records disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper documentation of policies and transactions of government for its efficient, effective and economical operation.

As defined in the said Act, disposal refers to the systematic sorting out of records in the office storage whereby those classified as valuable records are permanently preserved and those which are classified as valueless are disposed of.

In Section 16 of the same act, all government offices, including government-owned and controlled corporations, shall prepare and submit a records disposition schedule in the prescribed form, which upon approval by the Executive Director of NAP shall govern the disposition of all the records of that government office. | JB