ISO certified?
From some of the literature provided by the Internet, ISO refers to the International Organization for Standardization. Basically, an ISO certified organization whether for profit or not means it is delivering efficiently the good or services it is supposed to be delivering to its clients.
This got our interest after reading an article about the ISO 9001:2008 certification of the John Hay Management Corporation as complying with the “highest level of professionalism, with honesty and integrity.” You can see it somewhere in the pages of this issue.
But everybody, rather every organization, now is ISO certified. Every group here and there is bandying an ISO certification. It has become so common that it has become something like a joke as even some business firms and government organizations that are serving the public in a very inefficient way—or are coming up with shoddy products and services— are saying they are ISO certified.
The peak of the public’s lack of belief in ISO certification was when former DPWH secretary Singson during PNoy’s time required contractors bidding for big DPWH projects to have ISO certification in order to be qualified. This made ISO certification a big business. For a certain amount, according to some contractors, somebody can obtain an ISO certification for a contractor. The amount was not be spent to make sure a contractor’s management systems will become efficient and be able to deliver quality work. It was to grease some palms in a certification body to just issue an ISO certification.
This affirms our ability to corrupt everything. We have become so creative in doing it that our ability to do so should be ISO certified—how about “ISO CERTIFIED FOR EFFICIENCY IN CORRUPT PRACTICES?” for the Philippines.
Yes, we have become so smart for our own good.**
