OPENING REMARKS

2017 Regional Planning Workshop

December 2016

Dr. Lisa Grace S. Bersales

National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

Good day to everyone. Before we formally start our planning for the year to come, I
would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone for a job well done in
2016. It has been an exciting year for the PSA, and I take pride in the successes of
all our officials and staff.

The Regional Planning Workshop is one of the most crucial endeavors of the PSA
where we cascade our plans for the upcoming year. Your attendance in the RPW
demonstrates the true dedication and seriousness of everyone in fulfilling our
responsibilities as PSA officials. For that, I extend my thanks.

If you can remember, we celebrated the theme Working Together as One on our
first anniversary as an organization. Then, we had Together Forever followed by
Synergy.

For this years RPW, we are geared towards the theme of Levelling Up.

We are blessed that our first 3 years as the PSA are both meaningful and fruitful. As
each year went by, we grew as individuals and an organization, achieving a slew of
successes and milestones. But, we never simply rest after our accomplishments.

We have to level up.

We have been doing much work, and I am glad our trend as a whole remains
positive. However, our fourth year is crucial as we are in the middle of our strategic
plan for 2015-2020. Either it will be a game-changing one or a status quo year for
us. As such, I want to have an intervention that will level up our trend. Yes, our
accomplishments continue to increase, but I want us to level up even more. We
have to be more efficient, focused, and clear on what we want for PSA.

How will that be?

Without a doubt, the systematic planning the RPW brings will help us achieve this
Levelling Up we ultimately want for the PSA. As we gather here, I want everyone
to take the opportunity to get the best out of this planning workshop, and for
everyone to take an active part in the discussions. Speak out and raise concerns if
you have any, because we want to hear from you. Significant discussions and
throwing of ideas are a great start in levelling up.

More importantly, it is vital for us to be reminded that without people, there is no

organization. Our human resource is a huge factor that can make or break our
levelling up as PSA. It is essential for us to work in harmony and understand each
other from the top to bottom, from the heads to the rank-and-files.

How can we do that?

Critical in our plan of levelling up is our commitment to capacity building. As

presented by Dir. Reynor Imperial in the COPW and NPW, the capacity building
framework can benefit us in determining our core competencies as PSA officials and
align them towards achieving the mission and vision of PSA. Upon strong execution,
it will definitely go beyond training and workshops. It is a huge leap we have to take
in order to level up, and I firmly believe that this will make us a strong, reliable
institution.

So, again, I ask each and everyone to be engaged and participate in the discussions
for this years RPW. Get involved, speak up, and listen.

But, at the same time, the RPW is a time for us to know one another beyond our
name and title. As we gather here, I encourage everyone to mingle and get to know
officials from other offices. Go beyond work ask how they are doing in their family
life. This, too, is something I would consider as levelling up by starting within
ourselves as we get to know others.

So, please get to know at least five (5) people here today you are not acquainted
with before. In the recently concluded National Planning Workshop, I also asked this
of the participants, and it brings me great to joy to see that many of them found
new friends. I also want that for all of you here in the RPW, so during breaks, grab
the chance and mingle with other PSA officials.
I am confident that we will all have meaningful takeaways after the RPW and level
up side-by-side. As we grow as a PSA family during this workshop, let us also include
our own families in our thoughts during this Christmas season.

And then come 2017, lets step up to the challenges, continue our growth, and of
course level up. Thank you very much.