BAGUIO CITY – As a testament to its commitment to elevating the quality of its services delivered to the public, the Department of the Interior and Local Government – Cordillera Administrative Region (DILG-CAR) has been conferred the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) – Level 1 Recognition for Commitment to Quality Management by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
DTI Secretary Maria Cristina A. Roque formally presented the PQA trophy to DILG-CAR Regional Director Araceli A. San Jose and Assistant Regional Director Ruperto B. Maribbay, Jr. during the “DTI Townhall sa Kordilyera” held in this city on April 4, 2025.
Established through Executive Order No. 448 and institutionalized through Republic Act No. 9013, the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) is the highest level of national recognition for exemplary organizational performance.
The PQA is conferred to public and private organizations that “excel in quality management and overall organizational performance.” It is a national system for assessing quality and productivity performance and is considered to be equivalent to the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) in the United States.
DILG-CAR RD San Jose attributed this achievement to the Department’s commitment to transparency, organizational efficiency, and its unwavering commitment to continuously improve its delivery of quality public service.
“This recognition is a product of the combined efforts of all DILG-CAR personnel from the Regional, City, Provincial and Field Offices that have faithfully committed themselves to deliver the best-possible quality of services to our constituents,” RD San Jose said.
She added that among the foundations the DILG-CAR prides itself on is the culture of innovation that has supported and nurtured the development of various internally-developed systems that have since became drivers of improved productivity of its internal and external clients, particularly of local government units (LGUs).
This includes the Flexible Learning and Enhanced Knowledge Service (FLEKS) developed by DILG-Baguio City that earned the region its first national recognition from the Local Government Academy. This system pushes for streamlined real-time reporting across compliances at all levels of local government and has since been benchmarked by different DILG Offices and LGUs from all over the country.
Moreover, the DILG-CAR chief said that the provision of technical assistance and frontline services have been proven to comply with the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements and its quality is reflected by the satisfactory results of the Client Satisfaction Surveys (CSS).
As part of the PQA Regionalization Program, the DILG-CAR was assessed in seven (7) categories, namely: Leadership; Strategy Development; Customer Expectations and Engagement; Organizational Performance; Workforce Capability and Capacity; Work Process; and Results.
To date, the DILG-CAR is eyeing the PQA Regional Level 2 Recognition and is bent on analyzing the results of the Level 1 assessment to address the identified performance gaps and harness opportunities for improvement.
“Our efforts does not end with receiving the award, rather it presents itself as a challenge to build on what we have so far accomplished. We need to prove that we are committed to excellence and we need to implement the corresponding strategies to further improve organizational efficiency and productivity,” RD San Jose said.
This feat places DILG-CAR as the Department’s second Regional Office in the country to earn the prestigious award following DILG Region XII in 2024. (FFP/DILG-CAR)
