MESSAGE
Sec. Arsenio M. Balisacan
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
and NEDA Director-General

Development and Communication Coordinating Network (DEVCOMNET) Meeting and Press Conference on the POPCEN 2015
August 10, 2015
Hotel Rembrandt, Quezon City

Good morning everyone, and thank you for participating in this DEVCOMNET meeting and Press Conference on the 2015 Census of Population.

Let me just tell you why this is significant to us all in government.

Accurate and reliable statistical data and evidence are crucial in determining how best to allocate limited resources. We in government rely on these to ensure that the policy decisions and actions we make truly respond to people’s needs. The census is particularly useful for development planning from the national to local levels, for investment programming, and for targeting beneficiaries of social services such as health, education, housing and social protection.

Moreover, the Census is an important input for political exercises, as the formation of congressional districts and cities depend partly on population count. In the same manner, it is also a basis for determining the amounts to be allocated for LGUs.

Even businesses and industries will also find the census data useful for identifying sites for establishing their businesses, determining consumer demand for various goods and services, and improving labor supply.

Throughout my professional career, both in academe and in government, I have seen the power that high-quality data can lend to the formulation of public policies that affect millions of lives.

Household-level statistics, including those generated from the Census of Population, have been important inputs to the design and implementation of poverty reduction programs and projects such as the Pantawid Pamilya program, and the National Health Insurance program. Our interventions to minimize the impact of natural disasters on vulnerable communities and populations also rely greatly on statistics that provide information on geographic characteristics.

In fact, many of the policies and recommendations contained in the Updated Philippine Development Plan are based on the surveys and statistics generated by the Philippine Statistics Authority, as well as the body of research produced by leading individual scholars (both local and foreign) and groups, including the University of the Philippines and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the Philippine government’s official think tank.

And as we monitor our country’s progress towards achieving inclusive growth, we continue to rely on statistics generated from household surveys to check whether we need to make adjustments in order to hasten the pace of poverty reduction.

This is why we in NEDA are looking forward to the conduct of the 2015 Census of Population by the PSA. We can hardly wait to get the results of a complete enumeration of households in the entire country as these will provide us the data required to properly plan and implement social and economic development plans, policies, and programs, especially now that we are embarking on a process of crafting a long-term vision for the Philippines.

Needless to say, I’m sure academic and research institutions are also looking forward to digging into the census data to study population growth and geographic distribution, to prepare population projections at the national and sub-national levels, and to do studies on a wide range of topics that we hope will also be useful to us in government.

As President Benigno S. Aquino III stated through Proclamation 1031, all government agencies, departments, and units are enjoined to support the Philippine Statistics Authority in conducting the 2015 Census of Population. This is similar to how legal US casino sites works as explained in this US casino sites website. As government information officers and members of the media, we are counting on your support to encourage the public to participate fully in the survey by providing complete and truthful answers to our enumerators. Please help PSA make this a success.

Thank you and good morning.

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