4th Provincial Data Expo highlights 32nd NSM Closing in Guimaras

The 4^th Provincial Data Expo highlighted the 32^nd National Statistics Month Culminating activity spearheaded by the Provincial Statistics Committee (PSC) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Guimaras Provincial Statistical Office on October 29, 2021, via an online platform.

Aimed at educating the public, disseminating information useful for planning, promoting progress, sharing of provincially disaggregated data, and wider information dissemination, five Provincial Statistics Committee member agencies prepared visual and audio-visual presentations to showcase their data.

“Provincial Tourism Office (PTO), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the Local Civil Registrar’s Office (LCRO) of Jordan were the offices who shared important statistical information, and how the data are being generated during the Provincial Data Expo and Kaathagan sa Estadistika”, said PSC Co-Chairperson and PSA Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.

The Provincial Tourism Office showcased the trend of tourist arrivals and receipts for the years 2019–2020.

Data revealed that tourist arrivals decreased by 85.12% from 103,367 visitors in 2019 with P1.96 billion in tourist receipts to only 15,384 visitors in 2020 with P286 million in tourist receipts.

Services was one of the sectors greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Kenneth June Eusebio of DOLE presented “DOLE Guimaras Employment Facilitation” which discussed the number of employment assistance given by DOLE and the number of children who were at risk of child labor.

PSA Guimaras also presented the video on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) result which disclosed that Guimaras gained 1.55% PGR for the past five years (2015-2020). This means that the province had the fastest growing population among the six provinces of Western Visayas region.

About 23,300 individuals were added to the population of Guimaras in every decade from 2000, and nearly 12,000 individuals were also added in every half a decade from 1990.

The status of PhilSys Registration in Guimaras was also presented in which the total number of registered was at 49,612 as of September 30, 2021, representing 59.59% of its 83,256 targets for 2021.

“The 3^rd Kaathagan sa Estadistika was also conducted to boost the awareness of participants about various statistical data in the province, educate them on how the data were computed, derived, and generated by the data sources,” Losare said.

Topics presented for the Kaathagan sa Estadistika include Civil Registration which was discussed by MCR Jesusa Millondaga of Jordan. She tackled the Civil Registry Law, the vital events, the basic sources of vital statistics, the common errors and remedies as well as the vital statistics generated for the first semester of 2021 by sex.

Introduction to Provincial Product Accounts and Data Sources were discussed by SSS Vicente Geonanga and Lee Ariane Nicole G. Tejada, timely for the implementation of PPA in 2022; while Population projection by barangays was discussed by Angel Babes Pauchano of PPDO to share the process of her computation for the barangay data useful for planning consumption of LGUs in the absence of PSA data because the latter release only data up to the municipal level.

A video presentation on the Community Based Monitoring System was also played to stir awareness of the LGUs on the upcoming implementation of the project in 2022.

In her welcome message, Losare explained the importance of conducting the annual NSM activities especially the 4th Provincial Data Expo and Kaathagan sa Estadistika.

“We wanted each and everyone to be updated, we wanted to know what sectors of our economy were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, what assistance was given by the government, how many had received assistance from DOLE, the mentioned data are very useful to our local planners, and thank you so much to our presenters for accepting the challenge,” Losare said.

Losare further stated that this annual activity must be sustained and hoping for more data presenters next year in a face-to-face mode.