"TOWARDS A PHILIPPINE STATISTICS SYSTEM RESPONSIVE TO

EMERGING NATIONAL AND GLOBAL CHALLENGES."

In a third-world country like ours, resources are limited and problems are complex.

Government may try to address them one by one but it is really a challenging task to even

know where to start. We assume we made one big step forward, but we find ourselves two

steps back.

We used to be part of Asia’s firsts. First to have an airline, a female leader - among

others. But those figures were decades ago. Comparing to our Asian neighbors now, we have

a long way to catch up. It is time to know and quantify how much we need to reform to be

back on track. And how much we need to prepare for the challenging times ahead.

From the National Statistics Office website, a quick snapshot called QuickStat

presents the current health check of our country. As I browse these reports, some figures are

surprising, others are somewhat predictable, but most of it is really alarming.

It surprised me to know that the average family income is P172, 000. That is almost

P14, 400 a month. But I thought there are many families that can barely eat one decent meal a

day. Some even consider themselves lucky if they have rice savored with soy sauce to enjoy,

and even the guarantee that these so-called meals would suffice for the rest of the coming

days.
 It is predictable that the OFW deployment is rising in numbers. More and more

Filipinos consider leaving the country for the promise of a better life overseas. For greener

pastures. Or perhaps for escape in a country where one’s college degree would drag him

down to underemployment.

But the indicator in that statistics that alarmed me the most is education and

enrolment. Among the students in elementary level, only half of them will continue in high

school. This is not a fair game. In the digital age and competitive environment that we are in

right now, a good education background is a powerful tool to enable us move forward and

have the labor force we need in order to respond to the call of industrialization. And those

numbers just give us half of the potential.

I have had the opportunity to look into these statistics. But does every Filipino care to

know this?

No.

They seem not to care. Not anymore. After all, most of the figures listed there are not

tangible to them. It does not reflect the actual scenario they are in. Or probably, not the same

number or amount others enjoy. Not the same number of those seeking for help, imploring

for good governance, and still some who simply call for a decent life.

In our government statistics, it is unusual to notice that the government issues may not

be the issue in your families. And the issue in your families may not be the issue the

government is trying to solve.

 And this large disparity may just be one of the deep holes we might find ourselves in,

if we continue providing ourselves with all these data which pose great incredibility. A legion

of facts, yet the truth is only one. That we are bound by the chains of fallacies. For statistical

data, too can be dangerous if one venerates them without enough objectivity that these may

not be the numbers being lived up by millions of Filipinos.

Government statistics becomes an effective tool if its people think that it is reliable

and tangible. Only then can it engage its people to work on solutions in areas where attention

is needed. Where much expenditures should be allocated, where health benefits should be

provided, and where moral reformation should be directed to.

A well-founded statistics leads to good governance. New policies and programs

cannot be properly employed if they haven’t been backed up with accurate statistical data.

They are heading to a pit of downfall and discrepancies, of malfunction and ill-effects. For

they have been doomed from the very start.

Unemployment. Health problems. Lack of education. Malnutrition among young and

old Filipinos. High dependency ratio. Ballooning birthrate. Too much Filipinos but not a

single job to withhold. Too much impoverished minds waiting for books. Millions of the sick

and dying, waiting for sustenance. And yet another million of children waiting to be born,

already in fear and worry of what would lie ahead of them. Too much. There has been much

of all these. Yet what we see on our demographics are mere fallacies. Data put up as if we’re

caged by a “normative” statistical world. Where we deal with what the country SHOULD be.

Not with what the country REALLY is.

 I am haunted by the fact that in a few years time, our national scenario would get

worse. When no statistical data can be easily be accepted or affirmed, or even be used as a

litmus indicator into what we have become, from what we have been.

Statistics should provide us the magnitude of all concerns of the society. Thus, its

credibility and truthfulness is a must. It is the determining factor of the country. A yardstick

to its progress and sometimes even a thermometer. The indicator of the intense adversities

man is facing.

Thus, it must not be taken for granted, or merely be projected without its preceding

actuations. For a country with numbers unperceivable to the general public, plans for

development would all be worthless. All concerns for reformation, cries for help and even the

strife for dignity – they would all end up down the drain if we wouldn’t uplift the standards –

the statistical system. And if not, then it would only seem that we, Filipinos are like drunken

men who do not know the use of lampposts; we use it as a source of support, rather than for

illumination.

What we need is a statistical system which conforms to the only truth in the society.

We do not need a manipulative health, educational or even business-oriented data. Because

we could never CHANGE our old means by them. In short, we need a system that would

direct us towards the common good. And we can only do this, if we have the truth within our

midst. Because many facts are there to engulf us, but only one reality is needed to be faced.

And like what they say, the truth – that sad and horrifying truth – hurts, but in the end, will

set us all free.

 Government statistics is like one’s personal health check. If the numbers do not reflect

the actual status, we might end up drinking the wrong medicine. Or even worse, we pretend

we are not sick at all and do nothing, until we feel that it is slowly killing us, and maybe, it is

too late to recover.

Saint Bridget College