CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–As the economy re-opens and recovery accelerates from COVID 19 pandemic, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-10 in celebration of the 33rd National Statistics Month in October cited the importance of statistics for evidence-based policy and decision-making.
The celebration gives focus on the theme, “Boosting the Country’s Recovery with Informed Decisions, Better Policies” particularly on affecting work for employment, affecting health system, educations system, agriculture sector, affecting the social protection of the government and all other sectors of the economy especially towards economic recovery from the scarring of the pandemic.
Wilma Guillen, assistant national statistician, said the past two years of the pandemic were hard economically and personally from losing jobs to losing loved ones.
“Together we have been resilient in this great challenge and learned to manage the situation. We have adapted to the new normal,” she said.
But this time, with less restrictions in mobility, Guillen said they are seeing from data that employment is moving towards achieving pre-pandemic level.
“National and regional income accounts as well are improving. Recovery is in the offing, accelerating,” she added.
Meanwhile, OIC Janith C. Aves of the Regional Statistics Services Office-10, said they recognize the high demand for timely, relevant and more granular statistics.
“As part of the PSA’s commitment that is to deliver timely, relevant and granular statistics, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, some official statistics posted releases earlier than their expected dates of release,” she said.
Further, Dr. Jose R. Llacuna Jr., regional director of Department of Health (DOH)-10, also believed that having validated data or true data is key to development and economic progress.
“Kung dili insakto ang atong plano, dili insakto atong data, mao nang giingon sa computer lingo, ‘garbage in, garbage out’ (If our plans are not correct, our data are also incorrect, that is the computer lingo that says garbage in, garbage out). The importance of validated data cannot be overemphasized because we will have real data and from then, we can proceed with a good plan and better decisions,” he said.
This year’s 33rd National Statistics Month kicked off with a holy mass, motorcade, opening ceremony and ribbon cutting ceremony for the Statistical Exhibit which was participated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Commission on Population and Development, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Labor and Employment, among others. (JMOR/PIA-10)
