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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE
MINUTES OF THE REGIONAL STATISTICAL COORDINATION COMMITTEE (RSCC) XII
MEETING HELD ON
I. Introduction
The provisional agenda was approved upon
deletion of the agenda item on DA-XII Concerns upon request of Ms.
Cecilia Parcon of DA-XII as the concern to be raised could be discussed
under Item 7 on concerns regarding land area statistics. Ms. Herlita G. Caraan informed the body that in compliance with RSCC-XII Resolution No. 5-2003, the Secretariat had convened the reconfigured TSSD-XII members last February 04, 2004 for a briefing on the SSRCS. They were oriented on the guidelines in the review and approval of survey proposals and were briefed about the primary functions and responsibilities of the TSSD. She announced that during the briefing and reorganizational meeting, the TSSD members elected Dr. Hersie Nicor of the University of Southern Mindanao as Chairperson and Ms. Belinda Peñuela, the Regional Statistician of NSO-XII, as Vice-Chairperson. The other members of the TSSD are Dr. Efimaco Cabanlit of the Mindanao State University-General Santos Branch, Dr. Lina Mondejar of the Notre Dame of Marbel University, Prof. Norma Gomez of the Notre Dame University, Ms. Phlorita Ridao of NEDA-XII and herself representing the NSCB-XII.
Ms. Caraan reported that on the said
meeting, the TSSD members also discussed the merits of the survey
proposal submitted by the Southern Christian College (SCC), in
collaboration with the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP),
for review and approval by the TSSD/RSCC. As per implementing
guidelines, however, the proposal does not fall within the jurisdiction
of the SSRCS because it is not funded by government funds. She informed
the Committee that despite this concern, the TSSD decided to provide the
SCC with technical assistance for the enhancement/improvement of their
survey design and instrument. She added that the Secretariat had already
transmitted to the SCC a copy of the TSSD consolidated
comments/suggestions/recommendations on their survey design and
instrument. Ms. Caraan updated the Committee on the status of the generation of the provincial poverty maps. She added that as of said date, only the poverty maps for South Cotabato had been fully completed; 14 of the 20 maps of Cotabato Province were completed and validated; 17 of the 20 maps of Sultan Kudarat were completed and will be subjected for validation; while preparation of maps for Sarangani has been started as data are already coming-in. Relative to this, Dir. Lim informed the Committee that the RDC-XII has issued a resolution enjoining Sarangani to step up its efforts to provide the NSCB with the required data so that the provincial maps could be completed. She added that the initiative for the generation of povety maps for the provinces shall later be expanded and shall cover the five cities of the region. Relative to this, the Chair requested the DSWD, DILG and the NSCB to work together with the LGUs in the establishment and maintenance of poverty databases and in the generation of poverty maps. She said that during the Regional Kalahi Core Group (RKCG) Workshop for the Harmonization of Poverty Statistics last January, the core instruments used in the measurement of poverty by the NSO, NSCB, DILG and DSWD were presented and thoroughly discussed. Based on the inputs from the agency presentations, the RKCG selected 15 indicators to be adopted and tracked to monitor the poverty situation of the region. These 15 indicators include the 13 NSCB identified indicators plus 2 additional indicators on housing namely construction materials of outer walls and roof.
Relative to this, Ms. Phlorita Ridao of
NEDA-XII inquired about the status of the integration of the said
additional indicators in enhancing the poverty maps generated by the
NSCB. Mr. Anthony Ridao of the NSCB-XII answered that the additional two
indicators on housing were already incorporated in the database and that
the NSCB-RD XII had started generating the required data from the 2000
CPH Public Use Files. He assured the Committee that as soon as the
necessary data will be generated, the preparation of enhanced maps
integrating the two additional indicators shall be started.
Ms. Caraan updated the body about the
highlights of the 14th NSM celebration in the region. She thanked the
Department of Tourism (DOT) XII, Provincial Government of South Cotabato
and the City Government of Koronadal for hosting the Opening of the 14th
NSM in Koronadal City as well as to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for
sponsoring the snacks for the Closing Ceremonies last 30 October 2003.
Ms. Caraan informed the Committee that the
SHRDP Training Submodule I, in coordination with the SRTC, was conducted
last October 20-24, 2003 in General Santos City and was attended by 27
participants; 24 came from the LGUs and 3 participants were from the
RLAs. Ms. Caraan updated the Committee of the preparations made relative to the forthcoming 9th NCS. She informed the body that Dr. Brigida Roscom of MSU-IIT was designated Chair of the 9th NCS Subcommittee for Mindanao and the NSCB-RD XII as NCS Mindanao Coordinator. She added that during the meeting with Dr. Roscom in Davao City last March 17, 2004, Dr. Roscom discussed the plans relative to the conduct of the First Mindanao Statistical Congress (MSC) on May 20-21, 2004. She explained that the MSC will serve as a venue for screening papers to be presented to the 9th NCS. Only the paper abstracts will be presented in the MSC and the full papers will be presented at the national convention. She announced that the deadline for the submission of the paper abstracts for the MSC will be on April 9, 2004. The papers that were screened and accepted by the Mindanao Subcommittee will be submitted to the 9th NCS National Steering Committee for further evaluation and assessment. In relation to this, the Chair expressed interest for Region XII to participate in the 9th NCS through the presentation of a technical paper on the poverty profile of the region. She instructed the Secretariat to take the lead in the preparation/drafting of the paper though it will be a collaborative effort as the other concerned agencies will provide the necessary inputs.
On the clarification of Ms. Caraan on the
primary content of the paper, Dir. Lim replied that the proposed
technical paper should be empirical/informative and should contain
information on the major causes of poverty in the region as well as a
policy prescription to address poverty concerns.
Ms. Caraan informed the Committee that
based on the initial inputs from the consolidated statistical
development initiatives submitted by agencies and local government
units, the statistical issues/concerns besetting the local statistical
system was determined and from which the proposed policy agenda for CY
2004 were formulated. The Chair commended the Secretariat for the
proactive effort. She provided several inputs for the refinement of the
RSCC-XII policy agenda for 2004.
Ms. Caraan also informed the RSCC-XII that
the NSCB-XII had extended technical assistance to POPCOM-XII in
designing a training course entitled "Training on Data Analysis and
Interpretation of PopDev Indicators and Other Critical Indicators" for
Local Population Officers. The training which was conducted last January
15-17, 2004, dealt on the computation/estimation of core PopDev
indicators, their analyses and interpretation and the official sources
of such data. Ms. Caraan and Mr. Edward Eloja of NSCB-XII served as
resource persons. Ms. Ma. Eileen A. Berdeprado made a run down of the 2003 RSCC-XII Accomplishment Report and presented the 2004 Tentative RSCC-XII Workplan. On the accomplishment report, Ms. Phlorita Ridao suggested that RSCC participation in the formulation of the Mindanao Investment Plan (MIP), Regional Physical and Framework Plan (RPFP) and other related involvements be included in the report. On the involvement of the Committee in the preparation of the Regional Economic Situationer (RES), the Chair announced that when the 2003 RES was presented to the RDC-XII during its First Regular Meeting last March 16, 2004, the issue regarding the misleading figures on commodity flow was raised because of the treatment of commodities landed and from where commodities originated. It surfaced during the RDC-XII discussion that figures from the Bureau of Customs XII showed a drop in commodities shipped out of General Santos City as an effect of the non-completion of the Sinawal Bridge. Businessmen were forced to shipped their product in the Davao City port, thus, the output of General Santos City were accredited with Region XI. The RSCC-XII is therefore requested to look into the definition of the inter-island domestic trade and work for the necessary adjustments in the commodity flow figures to account for products originating from General Santos City. The DTI-XII was requested to assist the RSCC-XII in the reconciliation of data/ figures on commodity flow. On matters pertaining to the forthcoming Visit Philippines 2004 activity of the DOT, member-agencies and local government units were requested to provide the DOT-XII with brochures, investment portfolios and other relevant information materials to be displayed and distributed in Intramuros. Region XII and ARMM will again showcase their indigenous products and crafts in Intramuros as hosts for the period April 16 to May 6, 2004. On the inquiry of Ms. Ridao, if the other local government units have indicated intention to organize their respective LSCCs, Ms. Caraan replied that LSCCs are to be created for Kidapawan, Tacurong and Koronadal Cities. The creation of these bodies needs the support of the concerned LGUs. Mr. Dennis Matutina informed the Committee that although General Santos City had already created its CSCC, the existing Committee needs to be revitalized. After the regional presentation, representatives of the local SCCs from Cotabato Province, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Cotabato City and General Santos City took turns in presenting their 2003 accomplishments and 2004 Work Programs. During the presentation made by Ms. Judith Baes of PrSCC-Cotabato Province, she cited the concerns on late submission/non-submission/difficulty of securing/collecting data in their province.
Ms. Marites Tanseco of PrSCC-South
Cotabato, on the otherhand, pointed out the following issues/concerns: She informed the Committee that PrSCC-South Cotabato during its First Regular Meeting in 2003, the Committee had agreed that official representatives from member-agencies shall designate the heads of the concerned agencies as official members of the PrSCC so that feedbacks are instantaneous and for them to make immediate decisions on concerns that need urgent attention. The Chair then instructed the Secretariat to provide the LGUs reference materials/ documents containing a listing of indicators systematically categorized by sector. She also directed the Secretariat to take the lead in coming-up with a customized manual of local government indicators containing information on the definition, formulas, sources of data and schedule of releases to guide the LGUs in the generation/ collection/dissemination of data. Mr. Wandrilo C. Bulang of Sarangani informed the Committee that the PrSCC has issued a resolution to the Sanguniang Panlalawigan (SP) for the inclusion of the PrSCC in the allocation of a regular budget. In addition, the SP has issued a resolution for the incorporation of the PrSCC in the regular budgetary program of the province. Based on the experience shared by Mr. Bulang, the Chair advised the representatives of the other local statistical coordination committees to make a representation to the PDC/CDC for the recognition of PrSCC/CSCC as a standing committee of their respective provincial/city councils so that they could avail of regular funds needed to operationalize the statistical committee. On the conduct of an MBN survey for the generation of poverty maps, Dir. Lim told Mr. Bulang that the data are available from administrative reports and hence, there is no need to conduct for a separate survey for the said purpose. She encouraged the Provincial Government to exert extra effort in collecting/gathering/requesting the needed data from the concerned local offices. Ms. Theresa V. Bataga of Cotabato City raised the concern regarding the Child Information System currently being used by the City Government as it could not generate the correct map for Cotabato City. According to her, the maps generated by the system would sometimes locate Cotabato City in Cotabato Province, Maguindanao or Sultan Kudarat. The CPDO, she said, is currently reconstructing the system to make the necessary corrections in the generation of the maps. Dir. Lim also advised Ms. Bataga to work for the recognition of the CSCC as an official development machinery of the City Development Council. Dir. Lim commended the City Government of General Santos City for the very strong utilization of the ICT in their operations/processes/outputs/publications as reported by Mr. Dennis Matutina. She encouraged the other local government units and line agencies to emulate the strides made by the City Government of General Santos to optimize utilization of information technology in their daily operations. According to Mr. Matutina, the General Santos City Statistical Coordination Committee is currently inactive, the composition of which was reduced from 24 members to seven (7). He also reported that the City Government had assisted a barangay in the conduct of a household survey. It extended assistance in the design of a database and train them on basic mapping. The city is also sourcing for funds to conduct an MBN survey using an enhanced survey instrument. Relative to this, Dir. Lim encouraged other LGUs to package and implement programs that would address/respond to statistical issues/concerns besetting the area. Dir. Lim also cautioned LGUs from generating data for the municipalities/barangays. She advised the PPDOs/CPDOs that they should always involved the lower-level LGUs such as the municipalities and barangays in the generation and validation of the needed data. Ms. Cecilia Parcon of DA-XII inquired from Mr. Bulang the status of a land management survey conducted by the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM) in Maitum. Mr. Bulang replied that per personal information, the said survey is not yet completed. He promised to provide the Committee information about its status in the next RSCC Meeting.
In the absence of the other LGUs, Dir. Lim
instructed the Secretariat to request the LGUs not present during the
meeting to submit their 2003 accomplishment reports and 2004 work plans
so that the RSCC could extend the necessary interventions. The Chair lauded the Secretariat for the effort exerted in formulating the policy directions of the Committee for CY 2004 based on the consolidated statistical issues/ concerns raised by member agencies and local government units. On the final version of the 2004 policy agenda of the Committee, the Chair suggested that the concerns be defined along key result areas based on the functional mandates of the RSCC. As an example, she cited that for organizational strengthening, policies formulated should be geared toward the organization/revitalization of local statistical coordination committees (LCCs) and intra-regional/international linkaging/ networking with various offices/bodies. She added, that for instance, the Committee could link with the RITECC for the establishment of a regional hub as well as in the maximum utilization of ICT for data dissemination and sharing of information. Futhermore, for the Committee to be reactive, it could systematically address the requirements of development planning by looking into the data gaps and respond to the data needs of planners and data users.
The Committee adopted the policy forecast
prepared by the Secretariat on the condition that it be enriched based
on the recommendations/suggestions made by the Committee.
As no DILG-XII representative was present
to report on this item, Dir. Lim instructed the Secretariat to
communicate with Dir. Buagas Sulaik of DILG-XII to apprise the Committee
with status of LGU databanks on poverty alleviation. On the issue regarding land area statistics, Dir. Lim instructed the Secretariat to prepare a communication addressed to the Head Offices of NSCB and DENR to hold a bilateral meeting to aggree on the matter of reconciling the figures for the land area statistics as the issue is not only confined to Region XII but will affect Region XI and ARMM. Ms. Theresa Menor made some clarifications on the data shown on land area. She explained that the data provided by their office were back-up by surveys while those from the Land Management Bureau (LMB) were estimated and hence had big discrepancies as data were estimated when most municipalities have not yet established their political boundaries. On the data used by the RLUC, Ms. Ridao explained that the data used for the RPFP were taken from the DENR Master Plan; and even these data were not consistent with the total area when disaggregated by type. Ms. Menor elaborated that this is due to issues on encroachments and land disputes.
To clear matters, Dir. Lim recommended
that data to be adopted should be the official figures provided by the
mandated agency. Mr. Anthony A. Ridao of NSCB-XII explained the rationale/purpose of publishing the Provincial Countryside in Figures (ProvCIF). He enumerated the proposed list of indicators/tables that will be included in the publication.
The Committee members suggested for the
inclusion of the following indicators:
To sustain the publication of the CIF,
Dir. Lim instructed the Secretariat to elevate to NSCB-CO the proposal
for a joint arrangement with the Provincial Governments the
responsibility of maintaining/updating the database and printing of the
CIF. She advised the Secretariat to inform Cotabato Province regarding
the NSCB proposal for the publication of a CIF-Cotabato, as a pilot
initiave, to solicit their support/assistance. Mr. Edward Donald F. Eloja of NSCB-XII explained to the Committeee the rationale and purpose of the proposed statistical webpage in the LGU websites. He cited the several legal bases behind the proposal, enumerated the indicators to be included in the page and showed the sample formats/templates for the proposed statistics page. After the presentation, Dir. Lim thanked the RITECC for issuing a resolution in support of the development/maintenance of local statistical webpages. To fastrack implementation, she said that the activity should be piloted first to the provinces/cities and afterwhich the municipalities could follow. On the suggested indicators, Ms. Nelly Dillera of DTI-XII suggested that the entry on business support facilities be disaggregated into volume, capacity, number, etc. while cost of doing business be broken into wage rates, power and water rates, etc. Mr. Bulang of Sarangani also suggested for the inclusion of information on fiscal incentives in the proposed stat webpage.
Dir. Lim instructed the Secretariat to
e-mail the template to the LGUs as soon as the suggested enhancements
were incorporated as recommended. Mr. Eloja presented to the Committee the proposed course outline for the Statistical Human Resource and Development Program (SHRDP) Submodule II training. He said that the Secretariat had already coordinated with the SRTC regarding the proposed training and that the tentative date for the conduct of the training will be between third week of August until October as the NSCB-XII staff will not be available on a much earlier date.
The Chair instructed the Secretariat to
send out invitations to the LGUs and line agencies as soon as the venue,
registration fee and other related matters would be finalized. Ms. Caraan again reiterated the invitation and call for papers for the First Mindanao Statistics Congress (MSC) which will be held on May 20-21, 2004 at the MSU-IIT Mini Theater in Iligan City. She stressed that the deadline for the submission of the paper abstracts will be on April 9, 2004 and that the papers that will be selected during the Congress will be submitted to the NCS National Screening Committee for further screening to qualify for presentation in the 9th NCS in Manila this October 2004.
Dir. Lim encouraged prospective presentors
to submit paper abstracts and invited members to attend the forthcoming
MSC and NCS. Mr. Eloja presented to the Committee the features of the NSCB Interactive Statistics (I-Stats) database. He showed the data/tables available in the database and demonstrated how it could be accessed. He invited interested member-agencies to subscribe to NSCB's interactive database. He also informed the Committee of the prevailing subscription rates for national and regional subscribers.
He, likewise, showed to the Committee the
agency's StatRef as an interactive tool in browsing for available
statistical publications/documents containing statistics/data needed by
reseachers/data users. Ms. Berdeprado informed the Committee of the availability of the 2000 revised estimates and the released of the 2001-2002 provincial poverty statistics by the NSCB. On the query of Ms. Ridao regarding the declining figures of the poverty thresholds of Cotabato Province, Ms. Caraan replied that prices are basically the major inputs in estimating poverty thresholds but the RD has not yet thoroughly gone through the figures since the figures are recently released.
She also informed them that the revised
2000 estimate on poverty incidence will be made available along with the
released of the 2003 poverty estimates. Ms. Berdeprado presented to the Committee the new criteria in classifying urban areas based on new definitions specified on NSCB Resolution NO. 9-2003. She enumerated the old criteria and the new criteria in determining urbanity/rurality of areas. She stressed that the new definition will be adopted in the 2005 Mid- Decade Population Census.
On the query of Ms. Ridao on the
availability of a list on urban-rural areas, Mr. Ismael Ramos of NSO-XII
promised to inquire about its availability and to provide the Committee
a copy of it.
Mr. Ramos updated the Committee of latest
data available at their end and the surveys/censuses currently being
undertaken by NSO.
Mr. Eloja announced to the body the
schedules of statistical trainings to be conducted by the SRTC for CY
2004 including the registration fees. Ms. Caraan informed the Committee of the salient points of NSCB Resolution Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 passed by the Executive Board during its meeting last March 05, 2004. Relative to this, the Committee moved to pass an omnibus resolution regarding the 2005 Mid-Decade Population Census for information, advocacy and enjoining support of LGUs, line agencies and the private sector relative to the conduct of said census. Mr. Matutina also requested the Committee that LGUs be provided with a copy of NSCB Resolution No. 01-2004 to enjoin them from utilizing the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC) in their trade and industry-related operations/activities.
Dir. Lim instructed the Secretariat to
furnish the RSCC-XII members with copies of the NSCB resolutions.
With no other matters to discuss, the
meeting was adjourned at about 2:45 in the afternoon of the same day. |