First of a Series of Strategic Planning Workshop on Philippine Metrology

Target: A Ten-Year Metrology Master Plan for the Philippines

The first ever strategy discussions for Philippine Metrology since the approval of the National Metrology Act of 2003 was eventually conducted on 28-30 May 2012 in a hotel in Tagaytay City. With the end objective of arriving at a long term Metrology Master Plan for the Philippines, the workshop is in support of President Aquino’s Long Term Development Plan. Metrology is one of the key areas that the government is pushing in view of its major impact in promoting the country’s competitiveness in commerce and industry locally and internationally, and in ensuring consumer protection.

An initial workshop in a series of planned consultative sessions with different stakeholders, the strategic planning was spearheaded by the National Metrology Laboratory of the Philippines (NML), a division of Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Led by NML Chief Aurora Kimura with ITDI Director Dr. Nuna Almanzor, participants included senior representatives from the DOST Planning Office, DOST-Region 3, National Economic Development Agency (NEDA), Philippine Metrology, Standards, Testing & Quality, Inc. (MSTQ), and eleven senior staff of NML.

Ably moderated by Dr. Clemens Sanetra, a PTB Consultant of National Quality Infrastructure Systems with main focus on metrology, discussions identified the key elements of a national metrology infrastructure, defined the relationship of NML with other key players in metrology and the national quality infrastructure, determined the needs and gaps in Philippine metrology, proposed strategies on how to address the gaps, and also identified short, medium and long-term targets and milestones to arrive at a Ten-Year Philippine Metrology Strategy.

Target output of the planned series of strategic discussions and consultations with stakeholders is an agreement in the following key strategic areas for Philippine Metrology - the National Metrology Policy, Nat’l. Metrology Institute (NMI) and Designated Agencies (DI), NMI’s regional and international relations, NMI’s institution building, NMI’s technical competence building, NMI & calibration laboratories and MIC lab relations, NMI and regulators relations, NMI and NQI relations, NMI and industry relations, and Diffusion, Education and Marketing to promote, generate awareness and successfully implement the long term strategy. 

Within this year, consultation with other groups will commence where a draft of the initial strategy paper will be presented, freely discussed and validated with concerned stakeholders. NML will continue to lead in this activity with the support of ITDI-DOST and the German government, through Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the national metrology institute of Germany which is assisting the Philippines through the Technical Cooperation Project on Consultation for the development of service offers in the field of quality infrastructure.

This significant activity is one of the landmark projects that NML together with PTB has embarked on to aggressively push metrology forward to fulfill its role as the national metrology institute of the Philippines. The first was the launch of its own NML corporate identity early this year.