NSCB - Statistically Speaking... October is National Statistics Month! by Dr. Romulo A. Virola

October is National Statistics Month!
by Dr. Romulo A. Virola ¹
Secretary General, NSCB

May is fiesta time in the Philippines while right on the first day of the first Ber month, we hear Christmas carols fill the air! But for us statisticians, October is very special, thanks to our former President Cory C. Aquino, who issued Presidential Proclamation No. 647 on 20 September 1990, declaring October of each year as National Statistics Month (NSM) in the Philippines.

Pres. Cory therefore deserves much of the respect that the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) now enjoys in the international statistical community. I do not know if it can be said of the other professions, but modesty aside, Filipino official statisticians and the PSS have gained recognition from our peers, and the collaboration and cooperation among the members of the PSS during the NSM have much to do with it.

Last Monday, we opened the 15th annual celebration of the NSM with the theme “Rising Beyond Global Challenges Through Quality Philippine Statistics”, with NEDA as host. The month-long celebration spearheaded by the NSCB features different activities like training, seminars, workshops, exhibits, media fora, statistical quizzes and even oratorical contests and is geared towards making statistics much more relevant to our national efforts to be globally competitive. All 17 regions of the country are actively participating.

In his keynote address, the Secretary of Socio-Economic Planning, NEDA Director General and Chairman of the NSCB, Sec. Romulo L. Neri, emphasized the importance of accurate and relevant statistical information in strategizing the attainment of our development goals. He particularly referred to the critical role of statistics in the pursuit of the anti-poverty agenda of the government as articulated in the MTPDP, 2004-2010. Sec. Neri also welcomed the initiatives in the ESCAP region, thru the International Conference on Official Poverty Statistics, for the institutionalization of the regular compilation of official poverty statistics by national statistical agencies. He noted that high quality official poverty statistics were vital in the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which among others, aim to halve poverty from 1990 to 2015.

Mr. Gavin Girhard Solano, the winner of the BSP annual statistical oratorical contest in 2003 representing the Philippine Pasay Chung Hua Academy, amazed and impressed 725 local and international participants from 24 countries and 11 international organizations during the opening ceremonies with his winning piece on tourism statistics.

Also opening last Monday was the triennial National Convention on Statistics (NCS) which featured two plenary sessions, 37 simultaneous sessions and 104 papers. The first plenary session was sponsored by the AIM. It was organized by Dr. Federico M. Macaranas of the AIM with a presentation on “Developing Countries’ Statistical Challenges in the Global Economy”, by Shaida Badiee, Misha Belkindas, Olivier Dupriez, Neil Fantom and Haeduck Lee. The paper was presented by M. Belkindas via video-conferencing from Washington, D.C. and discussed by Dr. Gerardo P. Sicat. The second plenary session was sponsored by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the METAGORA project of the OECD. Organized by Mandaluyong City Vice Mayor Jesus C. Cruz and chaired by Mr. Arturo B. Lumagod, also of Mandaluyong City, the papers presented were “The Best and Worst Provinces in the Philippines: What Happened to their Leaders in the 2004 Elections?” by Romulo A. Virola, Severa B. de Costo, Joseph M. Addawe and Leonor G. Reyes and “Basic Data: A Tool in Local Governance” by Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, Merla Abarquez-Rosalado and Reo M. Marquez. The first paper was discussed by Prof. “ Mareng” Winnie Monsod, the second by Rev. Jundy Bautista.

Further adding to the exciting opening ceremonies of the NSM and the NCS were the International Conference on Official Poverty Statistics (ICOPS) and the Second Meeting of the ASEAN Task Force on Statistical Classifications, of which the Philippines thru the NSCB sits as Chair. The ICOPS came up with a regional work plan for the compilation of official poverty statistics in the ESCAP region, which was turned over to Mr. Andrew Flatt, Director of the UN ESCAP Statistics Division. The regional plan will be needed in the monitoring of the MDG on poverty reduction. On the other hand, the ASEAN meeting, which was attended by Dr. Agus Sutanto of the ASEAN Secretariat Statistics Division, formulated a plan on how the ASEAN perspective can be incorporated in the revision of the UN International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) in 2007.

During the same week, the Regional Workshop on Poverty Statistics in Asia and the Pacific opened on Thursday. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the UN Statistics Division, represented by Dr. Gisele Kamanou and the NSCB. It discussed the draft Handbook on Poverty Statistics being prepared by the UN and formulated specific recommendations on the direction of country efforts in generating official poverty statistics.

A new feature of the 9th NCS is the active participation of statisticians from the regions. Separate sessions were conducted for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. These were organized by Dr. Marilou G. Abon of the Central Luzon State University , Dr. Sonia P. Formacion of the UP Visayas and Dr. Brigida A. Roscom of the Mindanao State University, Iligan Institute of Technology, and featured a total of 11 papers from statisticians in the regions.

During the closing ceremonies of the 9th NCS, Undersecretary Evelyn B. Pantig of the Department of Tourism, host of the 14th NSM, gave the awards to the following winners of the 14th NSM celebration: 7th BSP-DepEd Oratorical Contest, Best Statistical Contest; DENR and NSO NCR, Best Statistical Exhibit; DOT Workshop on Tourism Statistics, Best Statistical Forum; NSO Census Serbilis sa Radyo over DZRB, Best Radio/TV Plug; and the Ilocos Region, Best NSM Region.

The closing ceremonies of the 15th NSM will be held on October 27 at the BSP Assembly Hall, 3rd Floor, BSP Three-Storey Building at 8:30 in the morning. A very special feature of the closing activity is the 8th BSP-DepEd Oratorical Contest for High School Students in the NCR. If you have not heard statistics eloquently reported by young and promising men and women of the Philippines, the BSP-DepEd contest is enlighteningly interesting, to say the least!

Happy Statistics Month to All!

Reactions and views are welcome thru email to the author at ra.virola@nscb.gov.ph.