Friday, October 05, 2007 DILG urges LGUs to gather stats
STRESSING on the importance and value of statistics in the development efforts of the national and local governments, Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno urged all local chief executives to conduct activities appropriate to the celebration of Statistics Month.
October has been declared National Statistics Month under Presidential Proclamation 647 of Sept. 20, 1990.
The National Statistical Coordination Board spearheads the celebration that coincides with the 10th National Convention on Statistics and the International Conference on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Statistics on Oct. 1 to 3.
The theme for this month’s celebration is “Statistics and Actions: A Road to a Better Life Through the MDGs.”
MDGs are policies envisioned to eradicate poverty, ensure human development and build prosperity for the greatest number of Filipinos.
Poverty
It has six priority areas of concern— eradication of poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality, reduction of child mortality, improvement of women’s reproductive health and combat Human Immuno Virus/Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome, malaria and other diseases.
The DILG official explained that in order to assess the country’s progress and the effectiveness of the government’s programs on poverty eradication in achieving the goal, there should be hard data and statistics.
Generate
Puno said decisions based on sound statistics will produce the best choices for program implementers of government. “It is for this reason that we must also put more investments in statistics to be able to generate qualitative information,” he said.
In celebration of the activity, Puno enjoined all provincial governors, city and municipal mayors to undertake simple activities like the conduct of symposia, workshops, orientation seminars, exhibits, slide shows and publication of statistical reports, indicators and other relevant information, with emphasis on the theme.
The observance of the National Statistics Month each year is aimed to promote, enhance and instill awareness and appreciation on the importance of statistics in the formulation of policies for growth and development as well as elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality of standards of statistics in the country.
