AT LEAST 40 participants from different government agencies graced the closing ceremony of the 27th National Statistics Month (NSM) held Tuesday, November 8, at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Anchored on a theme "Sustainable Development: Making Statistics Count," the observance is pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 647 in 1990.
The BSP director lawyer Sonia delos Reyes, in her welcome remarks, said they are honored to host the closing ceremony of NSM.
"We in the BSP are privileged to be part of this annual celebration as it gives the BSP a chance to share to our countrymen the importance of statistics in coming up with sound and effective monetary policies," Delos Reyes said.
The activity also provides the BSP an opportunity to showcase to the public different banking and financial statistics it generates, she added.
Delos Reyes said that this year's NSM celebration theme is a reminder that statistics has played a critical role in the achievement of the country's agenda for sustainable development.
"By using statistics as a means in monitoring the progress in achieving sustainable development goal or SDGS the need to generate more timely and reliable data from different government and private institutions," Delos Reyes said.
The celebration aims to promote, enhance and instill awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics to different sectors of society and elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality and standards of statistics in the country.
Also present during the activity is the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) regional director Ruben Abaro. He discussed the PSA's sustainable development goals, targets and indicators.
Abaro added the Philippines is committed to 17 goals to achieve three extraordinary things in the next 15 years including putting an end to extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change.
Resource speakers from the academe including acting dean from the University of Southeaster Philippines- School of Applied Economics (Usep-Saec) Ruperto Deluna Jr. and from the government agencies, Department of Labor and Employment Technical Support Paul Cruz and Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division Chief on Planning and Management Rita Fe Gunn.
The speakers shared their respective offices' commitment towards supporting the PSA. (JCR)