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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEETING OF THE REGIONAL
STATISTICAL COORDINATION COMMITTEE XII HELD ON MARCH 28, 2006 AT THE RDC/NEDA-XII
CONFERENCE ROOM REGIONAL GOVERNMENT CENTER, COTABATO CITY The meeting started at about 9:00 in the morning and it was presided by the RSCC-XII Chairperson, Dir. Hadja Sittie Mariam (Ma. Lourdes) D. Lim. Out of the 26 RSCC-XII members, 21 were present. Absent were LGU representatives from Cotabato Province, Sultan Kudarat and Tacurong City, as well as the private sector representatives from ND-URC and ACCORD. Also in attendance were members of the MDG Technical Working Group whose presence were invited/requested in view of the scheduled review of the region’s First Progress Report on MDG attainment. In her opening message, the Chair was heartened by the good attendance
showed in by the Committee members. She then gave a brief run-through of the
agenda items to be taken during the day. As this was the first meeting of
the RSCC for the year, the Chair said that the Committee was expecting to
hear some reports of its past year’s accomplishments and review them if they
are in accordance with its targets. The Committee was also expected to plan
out its activities for year 2006 in the hope to create a desired impact in
the area of statistical development. The provisional agenda was unanimously approved. The highlights of the
previous meeting were likewise confirmed/adopted by the body as presented. The Chair thanked the BAS for its positive response and asked its Regional
Field Office to prepare a comprehensive proposal and submit it the RSCC for
its review and evaluation. The LGU Committee members also reacted favourably
on the BAS response and hope that the BAS XII could submit the proposal as
soon as possible to the RSCC for comments and suggestions particularly by
the LGU members. She also reminded the body that a full discussion of the First MDG Progress
Report is scheduled in the later part of the agenda. In line with the pending formal approval of the 2005-2010 Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP), the NSCB has issued the 2006 Planning and Budgetary Thrusts for Statistical Activities which would serve as guide for line agencies and LGUs in the preparation/finalization of their 2006 statistical work plans. Mr. Anthony Ridao presented the salient points of the planning and budgetary thrusts for 2006 by highlighting key result areas pertaining to subnational statistical development. As a reaction regarding the presentation, particularly on the thrust for strong and effective subnational statistical system, Mr. Rene Paraba of Sarangani Province raised the issue on the need for the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) to really address the statistical requirements of the LGUs. He understands that in view of resource constraints, data generated by statistical line agencies are not really designed to generate data with lower-level disaggregation. He asked if LGUs could be provided with some technical assistance on how to generate lower level data that would respond to their specific data requirements. Ms. Marites Tanseco of South Cotabato also raised the issue on the need for lower level data on critical indicators like labor and employment statistics. As the RSCC XII has a standing resolution to the NSO CO to reconsider the generation of provincial/city statistics on labor and employment, the Chair requested Mr. Ismael Ramos, Jr. to follow up from their Central Office the status of an RSCC resolution on the matter. The Chair also requested the Secretariat to prepare a follow-up letter to the NSO Administrator if necessary. Mr. Ramos informed the Committee that the NSO is currently developing a methodology on small-area estimation in response to the inability of the current master sample design to generate data beyond regional disaggregation. Considering the great demand of LGUs for finer-level data, the Chair proposed if the LGUs could be provided with a training on small-area estimation to capacitate them in responding to their specific data requirements. She suggested that the assistance of the SRTC in developing such training design should be solicited. She added that this should be one of the banner activities of the RSCC for the year. The Chair enjoined everyone to anchor their statistical work plans on the 2006 planning thrusts. Though priority development programs highlight poverty reduction, good governance and maximized use of ICT, this should not preclude agencies/LGUs by looking into other concerns like agriculture and fishery which account the biggest share of the regional economy. Also, the Chair said that there is a need to develop some indicators to measure the performance of Governance and Institution Reforms Sector and she tasked the body if it could develop and recommend some integrative indicators to measure the impact of good governance. In response, Ms. Caraan shared to the body about the paper prepared by Dr. Virola (and company) wherein they developed an index to measure good governance at the local level. Ms. Caraan said that the paper could be a good reference material in the attempt of the RSCC XII to develop an integrative indicators to measure the performance of the GID sector. The Chair asked the Secretariat if this could be presented to the RSCC for some discussions. Mr. Wandril Bulang raised to the body that at the local level, a lot of information systems are existing like the IRAP, CBMS, DevInfo, to mention some. He suggested if a more comprehensive information system be developed for adoption by the LGUs. Mr. Paraba also expressed the same concern and suggested that a more wholistic framework be developed and adopted for statistical data collection. In response, the Chair said that the LGUs should not be confused by these systems as they are only statistical data collecting tools and it is up for the LGUs to decide which one are they going to adopt based on their requirements. She advised the LGUs to submit to the RSCC the data results generated by these systems as well as the methodology used so they could be evaluated by the RSCC and outputs of these data/information systems be legitimized. The Chair informed the body that the DevInfo System is the official monitoring tool endorsed by the RDC for tracking the progress of MDG attainment. The MDG is a set of critical indicators being tracked down not only nationally but internationally, as they are international commitments of signatory countries in the Millennium Declaration. The DevInfo System contains all the indicators needed for tracking/monitoring attainment to these international commitments. She remarked that we couldn’t disregard these commitments so we have to attune the statistical system to the requirements of MDGs. All other concerns like poverty reduction are within the framework of the MDGs. Ms. Caraan added that the various systems existing systems actually
complement each other in such a way that the data which could not be
captured by one system could be provided by the other system/s. Since no
system perfectly responds to the data requirements of every stakeholder,
LGUs are advised to maximize the use of these systems as support
infrastructures to their data needs. Ms. Eileen A Berdeprado presented the accomplishments of the RSCC for 2005. She then presented the 2006 Work Plan of the Committee. The Chair thanked the members for their support and contribution for the substantial accomplishments of the RSCC in 2005. She also noted the inclusion of the proposed training for small-area estimation and the development of a GID performance indicators in the revised work plan of the RSCC for 2006. The various PrSCCs/CSCCs then took turns in presenting their reports. Statistical activities lined up in 2006 include strengthening of statistical coordination and policy setting at the local level, resolution of local statistical issues, building-up/updating/maintenance of local databases, updating of socio-economic profiles, updating of local websites, and spearheading NSM celebration in their respective areas, among others. The Chair commended Sarangani, in particular, for its various statistical
development efforts to improve the provincial/local statistical system. The
Chair announced that Sarangani was adjudged winner in the 2005 Search for
the Most Statistically Appreciative Province in the Region. The Chair also
added that the RSCC intends to institutionalize the Search as a venue for
recognizing statistical development efforts of LGUs and line agencies in the
region. The RSCC approved the proposed 2006 policy agenda as guide for the set of issues that is targeted to be addressed/resolved by the RSCC during the year. The policy agenda hope to address statistical issues and problems
confronting the regional statistical system for it to be more responsive and
relevant. The policy agenda are also aligned with the 2006 Statistical
Thrusts. The draft First MDG Progress Report of Region XII was presented by Ms. Phlorita Ridao for comments and suggestions of the RSCC. She provided the Committee of a detailed report on the status and present condition of the region in terms of MDG attainment, priority programs and projects of various line agencies supporting the attainment of the MDGs, and set of recommendations calling for appropriate action so the goals and targets could be achieved. After the presentation, the Chair commended the MDG Technical Working group for the efforts exerted for the completion of the draft document of the region’s First MDG Progress Report. The Chair said that the approach adopted by Region XII was collaborative in nature and employs a more participative approach unlike in other regions where they hired private consultants in the preparation of the report. The approach adopted by Region XII, the Chair explained generates ownership of the report by various stakeholders which would ensure accountability in the delivery of mandated programs and services to attain the MDGs. The Chair invited the members to give their comments/suggestions to enhance
the report.
The following are some comments generated during the meeting regarding the
report: According to Ms. Roselou Hornido, the DepEd representative, they are not
allowed to generate figures outside the BEIS database, so, she is suggesting
of a more a more practical solution to the issue on the questioned formula,
that is by providing some explanations on the limitation of the data
generated by the system. The Chair said that the MDG report should not be simply diagnostic but it
should provide information that would influence program implementers to
focus their resources in areas where they are most needed. The Chair added
that one basic intention of the report is for it to be used as a tool for
influencing decisions and policies. Due to some data constraints for IMR, UMR, MMR indicators, the TWG
recommended the latest official data available be used due to some concerns
on the reliability of admin-based data generated by Field Health Offices on
the said indicators. It is hoped that recent official data would be made
available for use in the preparation of subsequent MDG Progress reports. Along this line, Mr. Paraba commented that one problem of the LGUs is that they are burdened by too many planning guidelines. In response the Chair informed the body, that planning is now moving along the line of integrating various planning guidelines. A training funded through an ADB Project will be conducted for provincial staff on April 16-22 in Cagayan de Oro which aims to come up with a comprehensive socio-economic and physical framework plans for the LGUs. The new comprehensive guideline is geared towards optimizing and providing
focus on interventions that shall be implemented. The body commented that the statement on reporting the incidence of HIV
should be carefully stated as this would pose a negative impact on the
region’s tourism industry. The body agreed that the statement that no HIV
cases were reported/confirmed in the region should be emphasized in the
report. The presentation of data in this section is very descriptive. This section
has to be enhanced to provide deeper analysis of the data so it could
provide information as to level of line agencies’ expenditures on education,
health and other basic services. The body also agreed on the target date for the refinement of the report and the presentation of these reports to the various Sectoral Committees of the RDC and of the final presentation to the RDC full assembly for approval/adoption. The MDG TWG has agreed to meet again on April 6 to enhance the first draft of the MDG Progress report. It was agreed that the draft report should be emailed to the LGUs to incorporate their comments and suggestions and additional inputs for the enhancement of the draft report. The Chair also informed the body that the UNDP has provided P200, 000.00
each for all regions as funding assistance for the preparation of the MDG
Progress Report. Since the proposed local MDG indicators are aligned with the
national/regional core indicators, the Chair requested the secretariat to
email the set of indicators to the LGUs for their guide in the localization
of the monitoring of the MDGs at their levels. Ms. Caraan presented to the body the local poverty estimates generated by the NSCB with funding support from the World Bank using the small-area estimation methodology. Ms. Caraan said that the local governments could use these as benchmark data in the localization of MDG monitoring. The Chair advised the Secretariat to provide line agencies, LGUs, the RKCG
and other stakeholders of copies of such data. Mr. Ismael Ramos Jr. presented the highlights of the 2003 Functional
Literacy and Educational Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) for information of the
body. Mr. Edward Eloja announced for information of the body some Board
Resolutions, schedule of STRC trainings and latest products and services
available at the NSIC Branch XII. With no other matters to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at past 5 PM on
the same day. |