The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Competitiveness Bureau (CB), gave the Philippine Quality Award, the highest level of national recognition for exemplary organizational performance, brand-new looks with the launching of its new set of trophies.
Four (4) trophies for PQA Levels 1 to 4, ingeniously engraved with the word husay in Filipino and Baybayin as part of the designs, were presented to the public during the pre-recorded 24th Conferment Ceremony last 23 March 2022.
Dr. Rafaelita Aldaba, Undersecretary for DTI-Competitiveness and Innovation Group (CIG), on her welcome remarks, stressed that the move to introduce new designs is aimed to make the trophies more Filipino centric.
“The word “husay” was added in emphasis of our goal of motivating organizations to aspire for excellence. Dahil ang PQA ay ‘di lamang tatak ng kalidad. Tatak din ito ng kahusayan,” Usec. Aldaba said.
CB Director Lilian Salonga, on the other hand, said that the redesign of the trophies is in line with the rebranding of the PQA Program which started with the launching of its new logo and the establishment of a more active online presence in 2020.
The previous glass trophies were superseded by trophies in cold cast bronze, black welded steel, and brass plate created by Toym Imao, son of the late Abdulmari Asia Imao, a National Artist of the Philippines for Sculpture.
As presented by CB Assistant Director Jo-Dann Darong during the virtual ceremony, the trophy for Level 1 or Recognition for Commitment to Quality Management resembles the wings of a bird in flight to signify the organization’s serious desire to begin its journey to achieve performance excellence. The trophy Level 2 or Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Management was designed like a torch to represent that the organization is seeing the way to higher level of excellence with its proficiency in quality management. Meanwhile, the design for Level 3 or Recognition for Mastery in Quality Management takes the form of a boat with its sails unfurled to symbolize a smooth and swift movement across challenges and difficulties as it propels onwards.
The trophy for the Philippine Quality Award for Performance Excellence or Level 4 is designed with the elements of Levels 1 to 3 trophies to embody the quest of excellence of an organization that has attained the country’s premiere award for organizational performance.
With the marketing efforts of the Bureau for the PQA, Director Salonga is bullish that its advocacies shall be further promoted and more organizations shall be encouraged to be part of the Team Quality
“Apart from our new trophies and the launching of the PQA Regionalization Program, we will soon be announcing more plans for PQA as we celebrate its 25th anniversary on October 3.” The PQA Program was created on 1997 through Executive Order 448 to improve economy-wide productivity and promote global competitiveness and was institutionalized through Republic Act 9013. ♦
Date of Release: 6 April 2022