October is 20th National Statistics Month

CEBU, Philippines - The National Statistics Office in its effort to promote awareness on the importance of statistics in the country's formation of different policies will be celebrating its 20th National Statistics Month in October.

Noel Rafols, NSO-7 information officer, said that the month-long celebration is in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 647 signed by former President Corazon Aquino on September 20, 1990.

This year's theme for the celebration is "Enhancing Security Sector Statistics for good governance, peace and sustainable development".

NSO is the major statistical agency responsible in collecting, compiling, classifying, producing, publishing, and disseminating general-purpose statistics as provided for in Commonwealth Act No. 591.

NSO also has the responsibility of carrying out and administering the provisions of the Civil Registry Law as provided for in Act No. 3753 dated February 1931.

Among the functions of NSO are the preparation and undertaking of all censuses on population, agriculture, commerce, and industry; the conduct of statistical surveys by enumeration, sampling, and other methods; compiling and classifying other statistical data and information; the conduct of social and economic studies and the making of projections on population, agricultural production, income, and the number of livestock, among others.

Rafols said that NSO supports the celebration by conducting several activities that include information dissemination, statistical symposia, essay writing contest, statistical quiz and statistical trivia.

Rafols further said that partner agencies particularly this year's hosts, the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, will actively participate all the activities lined up in the month-long celebration wherein a motorcade on the city's main thoroughfares will serve as culmination to the activity by the end of October. – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)