ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office IX (DOLE 9) gathered its process owners and internal quality auditors on February 7-8, 2019 at Cecile’s Pension House, this City for a refresher course and strategic planning exercises on the Quality Management System for its re-certification under the ISO 9001:2015 version.

Regional Director Ofelia B. Domingo shared during her opening remarks that the activity is in line with the office’s commitment to maintain and improve its QMS for the 37 enrolled processes under ISO 9001:2015.

The resource speaker, Ms. Doreen Dahilig of InfoAdvance Incorporated highlighted the importance of integrating the QMS in DOLE’s processes through her session: Risk-Based Thinking in ISO 9001:2015 Understanding and Implementing its Requirement.

Thirty nine (39) participants from the Regional Office and five (5) Field Offices underwent intensive workshops on identifying risks and opportunities for each process involved, refining their respective SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis and completing quality objectives with plans on how to accomplish them for the year.

Technical Resource Unit Head, Elamsalih Ungad, presented DOLE 9’s action plan for re-certification which includes the conduct of Internal Quality Audit and Management Review in preparation for the Surveillance Audit in April.

It can be recalled that DOLE 9 and its field offices were awarded ISO 9001:2015 Certificate for Quality Management System (QMS) on May 31, 2018 which is set to expire on May 4, 2019.

The DOLE QMS is a continual strategic program of the Department towards ensuring transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in its operations to consistently meet the ever-changing needs of its clients. END