State statistics agencies launch program to improve data collection at local level

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday launched a regular effort to improve data collection and dissemination for countryside development, this time with third-party users like the private sector in mind.

The Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP) 2011-2017, the eighth in a series of such programs that started in 1976, targets to improve the country’s statistical system and align it with the government’s Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP).

In support of countryside development, the PSDP seeks to generate more locally disaggregated data, or data sorted by locality, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said yesterday.

Critics, however, pointed out that the program’s formulation should include addressing the needs of other users of data, especially in the private sector which they said could grease the government’s development thrust.

Currently, the PSDP’s steering committee is composed “largely” of state statisticians. But Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr., who spoke at yesterday’s launch, said the government welcomes the involvement of the private sector in setting the program’s direction.

The formulation of the PSDP’s projects and budgetary requirements will start in April, he said.

Philippine Statistical Association President Vicente B. Valdepeñas, Jr. said that crafting the PSDP should also be an opportunity to review the country’s compliance with international standards on statistics.

The government needs to have a “very brief picture on where we are in terms of the UN SNA (United Nations Systems of National Accounts) 1993 and 2008,” he said at the forum. The UN SNA is a conceptual framework that sets an international statistical standard for the measurement of a country’s economy.

Mr. Valdepeñas claimed that the country’s national statistical system is “not compliant” with the UN standards.

Sought for comment, NSCB Secretary-General Romulo A. Virola said during the event: “It is hard to say how compliant we are with international standards. We are ahead of our neighbors in terms of quality of data that are available, but are lagging behind most developed countries.”

“The PSDP will address the current needs for improvement in data collection and dissemination,” Mr. Virola said later in an interview.

But even the UN statistical standards have nuances.

In his online column “Statistically Speaking” posted on the NSCB Web site last Monday, Mr. Virola noted: “The United Nations Statistical Commission, which prescribes international standards and guidelines on statistical measurement and practices, has not prescribed any international standard to measure poverty.”

Countries use various methodologies to assess poverty, he pointed out.

The Philippines itself has undergone three refinements in its methodology for measuring poverty since 1987. The most recent changes were approved by the NSCB Executive Board early last month.

The government said it will tap other multilateral donors to finance the PSDP, which earlier received a $150,000 funding from the World Bank. “The government will mostly shoulder the costs for the program, but donor associations can be another source for funding,” Mr. Paderanga said. — Antonio Siegfrid O. Alegado, Businessworld