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Local History of Statistics

During the Spanish colonial rule over the Philippines (1571-1898), with the exception of the late-colonial period, no censuses were

undertaken. Under the Encomienda system, the major concern of the Spanish was the collection of tributo (tributes), and corvees;

thus they did not need the actual population statistics. In the 1903 survey dy Dr. Barrows, often used for 1591 population figures,

the total tributo numbers were 166,903, and the tribute tax population was 667,612. However, the tributario (the unit for counting

tribute tax) was four people, so this number was not the actual population. The first Spanish government census, carried out by

the Spanish king’s fiat, was conducted in 1878. A similar census was carried out under another royal decree in 1887 and 1898,

but the 1898 census was conducted during the Spanish-American War, and was never completed.

From about the middle of the 18th century, Catholic church parish es kept records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, making

possible some population estimates. But these records turned out to be only for the Christian population. The Spanish colonial

statistical system began when a Officina Central de Statistica was established in the Direccion General de Administration Civil

under the implementation of the Spanish civil law in the Philippines in 1889. In the Spanish population and civil registration

system, priests were obliged to report births, marriages, and deaths which occurred within their parish to the Officina Central de

Statistica in Manila. The publication of the Boletin de Estadistica de la Ciudad de Manila, a monthly journal, was started in 1895,

making available population and vital statistics for the first time.

As a result of the Spanish-American War, the Philippines became American territory. During the American colonial period

(1898-1946), a national census was conducted three times in total, but the organizations which carried out the censuses were

different each time. With the 1903 census, under the orders of the central colonial administration, the Philippines Commission, the

Census Bureau of the Department of Public Instruction carried out the survey, and the United States Census Bureau processed

the statistics. Both the 1903 and the 1918 censuses included agricultural and industrial statistics in addition to population

statistics, but were both small-scale.

Under the Jones Atc of 1916, granting independence to the Philippines as soon as possible was determined to be the basic

policy. Under government guidance, the Philippine National Bank (PNB), and the semi-official National Development Company

(NDC) were established in 1916 and 1919 respectively. In 1918, the Bureau of Commerce and Industry, containing a statistics

division within it, was established in the Department of Commerce and Communications, and this statistics division collected

statistical information for thirteen years up to 1932. The Philippine Islands Census Office conducted the second nation-wide

census in 1918, with full participation by Filipinos.

Statistics divisions were established within the Bureau of Agriculture in 1902, and in the Bureau of Labor in 1908. In 1932, the

Bureau Commerce and Industry was amalgamated into the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. As a result, the Division of

Agricultural Statistics in the Bureau of Agriculture was absorbed by the Division of Agricultural Statistical under the Department of

Agriculture and Commerce. Statistical commentaries were published in The Philippine Statistical Review.

Independence for the Philippines was set for July 4, 1946 under the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934. In the Commonwealth period
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(1936-1946) to facilitate the construction of economic foundations, an economic policy advisory organ, the National Economic

Council (NEC), was formed in 1936. In the same year, the NDC was nationalized, and the number of government enterprises

increased due to financing from the PNB. In short, the state’s role in the economy increased.

In the same period, the statistical system developed greatly. First, the 1939 census was conducted by the Census Committee. In

addition to population, the census surveyed forestry, transportation, fisheries, and electric power. Moreover, the statistical offices

were reorganized and integrated. In 1940, under Commonwealth Act No. 591, the Bureau of Census and Statistics (BCS) was

formed in the Office of the President. This was the early incarnation of the present-day National Statistics Office (NSO). At this

point, the statistical work which had been carried out under the Statistics Division of the Department of Agriculture and

Commerce, the Labor Statistics Division of the Department of Labor, Vital Statistics Division of the Health Bureau of the

Department of Public Education, the Statistical Division of the Customs Office, and the 1939 Commission of Census, all became

integrated under the BCS. Thus, agricultural and industrial statistics, labor resource statistics, population statistics, and trade

statistics, were all united under one supervisory organ. The results of the new system were published in 1941 as the BCS’s first

publications Yearbook of Philippine Statistics, 1941, and the Journal of Philippine Statistics.

It should be noted that during the American period, a civil registration system was put into place, and continues to this day. In

1901, the Philippine Commission appointed municipal secretaries as local registrars to handle the civil registration. In 1922, this

responsibility was transferred to the Division of Archives, National Library, then in 1930 to the National Library, and with the

establishment of the Bureau of Census and Statistics in 1940, to the BCS. In present day Philippines, the National Statistics Office

(NSO) supervises the civil registration system.

Upon its independence in July 1946, the recovery from the damages incurred from World War II was the biggest challenge facing

the Philippines. The statistical system in the postwar recovery period (1946-1955) was in essence a continuation of the colonial

period structures. In 1948, the Bureau of Census and Statistics (BCS) conducted the first postwar census.

Of note during this period was the addition of national accounts statistics to the previous survey categories. The first national

income estimates for the Philippines was the 1947 Philippine-American Joint Finance Commission’s Report estimates for national

income for the years 1938 and 1948. This Commission was despatched to assess the rehabilitation program proposed by the

Philippines government. The Report also recommended the establishment of a central bank.

The Central Bank of the Philippines was established in 1949, and its Economic Research Division started work on national income

estimates in 1950, initially for the years 1948-50 based solely on the final value of goods and services produced as were the

estimates in the 1947 Report. Ultimately, national income estimates for 1946-1957 were released, using the double entry method

introduced in 1952. National income analysis was conducted, but mainly in relation to evaluations of fiscal and public finance

policy.

Postwar economic recovery and economic planning required specialists of statistics. In the early years, people were sent to study

in the U.S., then once they returned to the Philippines, the returnees contributed greatly to the development of the statistical

system. This growth was reflected in the establishment of the Philippine Statistics Association (PSA), and a Statistics Training

Center founded as a result of a proposal by the PSA.

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The PSA was established in 1952. Of the eighteen founding members, two were American statisticians. The statistical theory

journal, The Philippine Statistician, which the PSA began publishing in 1952, continues to this day, and is still highly regarded in

the field.

The Statistics Training Center was established in 1953 as a joint project between the Philippines government and UN, with the

objective of improving government statistics on the basis of a five year plan. The Center was attached to the University of the

Philippines. The first director was Enrique Virata (father of former Prime Minister Cesar Virata) and Benjamin Higgins was

despatched as an advisor from by the UN. Higgins contributed greatly to construction of the "Five-Year Economic and Social

Development Program" (1957-61).

In the period of import substitution industrialization policy (1956-1971), the emergence of the Magsaysay administration in 1953

marked a turning point for the statistical system. First, the National Economic Council (NEC), formed in 1936, was restructured in

1955, establishing the National Planning Division, Foreign Aid Coordination Division, Office of Statistical Coordination and

Standards (OSCAS), and granted it economic planning powers. In 1957, aiming at a thorough development plan, the NEC

National Planning Division wrote up, "Five-Year Economic and Social Development Program" (hereafter the "1957 Plan") was

distributed as a formal development plan created by a government organ. The work on national income estimates was transferred

in 1957 from the Economic Research Division of the Central Bank of Philippines to the OSCAS. The plan was to use national

account statistics in economic development planning. In fact, in the "1957 Plan," the target GNP levels are clearly indicated.

In the succeeding years, several adjustments were made in order to improve the accuracy of the national accounts statistics. In

1968, the 1946-67 national income estimates were revised. Direct estimations of private consumption expenditures, which had

been left as a residual, were conducted, which allowed the value added base to be checked. Under the direction of the NEC

chairman Gerardo Sicat, in 1971, a manual on national income estimations was also published.

The OSCAS went to work producing input-output tables of inter-industry relations. The first table was the 1961 input-output table,

completed in 1965 as a result of a joint project with the College of Liberal Arts of the University of the Philippines (a portion of this

College became the School Economics later on) in 1965. The OSCAS produced the 1965 input-output table by itself in 1969.