IN aims global, pushes for ISO-certified municipalities

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff Reporter

Aiming to be globally competitive, the Ilocos Norte government is pushing for all municipalities here to be certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

On November 5 during a meeting with the league of municipalities (LMP) here, Sarrat mayor Edito Alberto Balintona said the LMP fully supports the move for the ISO accreditation.

Initiated by the Ilocos Norte government under the administration of Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos, the country’s first local government unit to make all its offices ISO-compliant on February 1, 2013, it aims to attract more local and foreign investors here.

“One way of doing so is to ensure better government services and faster processing of documents by highly-competitive government workers passing a set of ISO accreditation,” said Balintona.

Once ISO-certified, Balintona added investors will be assured of quality services the government can offer to them based on transparency and efficiency of LGU’s governance.

“The funding needed for ISO accreditation is not so much of a burden compared to its numerous benefits,” said Balintona. However, municipal employees particularly those rank and file need to undergo examination to ensure they are highly competent and deserving for the job.

The Ilocos Norte government is also helping out LGU’s in terms of funding for the ISO application through a sharing scheme. For example, LGUs classified as first class municipalities shall have 70-30 sharing, third class 60-40 and third class is 50-50 while the fourth and fifth class municipalities shall have 100 percent financial support from the provincial government.

The PGIN’s ISO 9001: 2008 seal was given following an evaluation made by the ISO-certifying auditing team from TÜV NORD Philippines on the technological document transaction tracking system, the renovation of government buildings including the provincial jail and other practices.

The ISO certification process in the province started last September 25, 2012 when all the provincial office heads and employees underwent orientation and training under MacroVision Consultancy, a Philippine-based group offering management systems training related to ISO.

ISO is an acronym for “International Organization for Standardization” derived from the Greek word “isos”, meaning “equal.” It is a body that oversees service procedures and gives state of the art specifications for products, services and good practice, helping to make industry more efficient and effective.

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