This October, the country and the region, in particular, will once again celebrate the National Statistics Month (NSM) by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 647 which declares October of every year as National Statistics Month. The annual celebration aims to promote, enhance and instill nationwide awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics, and at the same time, solicit support of the general public in enhancing the quality of statistics in the country.

This year marks its 20th anniversary with the theme “Enhancing Security Sector Statistics for Good Governance, Peace and Sustainable Development”. This emphasizes the need to integrate security policy with development policy. But in order to effectively integrate security and development policy, it is imperative that policymakers be supported with relevant, accurate, and up-to-date statistics. The importance of generating high quality statistics in terms of various dimensions and standards cannot be sidelined as these would serve as bases for better plans, programs and policies in the security sector that would eventually lead to the attainment of a stable and secure environment conducive to development.

The regional celebration of the 20th NSM will be formally launched on October 5, 2009 with an opening ceremony to be held at the EMR Center in Koronadal City. The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) XII headed by its Regional Director Lita B. Enok will be this year’s gracious host.

A series of presentation will follow after the formal opening of the month-long celebration. OCD XII will make a presentation on "Disaster Risk Management: The Region XII Experience". PNP XII, on the other hand, will present "Statistics on Peace and Security and its Implications to Development".

Aside from hanging of NSM streamers, the celebration will be highlighted by the conduct of symposia, workshops, conferences, seminars, trainings, exhibits, statistics quizzes, poster and slogan contests, and IEC activities by various government line agencies, local government units, academe and the private sector.

The event is celebrated annually since 1990 and has progressively become a showcase of unity and cooperation of the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) in promoting its products and services and provide a forum for tackling statistical concerns and developments affecting the statistical system.