NSCB Resolution No. 11
Series of 2008

ENJOINING MAJOR STATISTICAL AGENCIES AND OTHER DATA PRODUCERS TO GENERATE SEPARATE DATA
FOR HIGHLY URBANIZED CITIES

WHEREAS, the Philippine Statistical System recognizes the need for an efficient and effective system for the generation of statistical data needed by users at the national and subnational levels;

WHEREAS, the need to generate statistics for highly urbanized cities (HUCs) was raised by a number of local government units of both HUCs and the mother provinces of HUCs, as well as regional planning bodies, pointing out that HUCs are separate geopolitical units and are independent of their mother provinces (refer to Annex BR-11-2008-01a for the criteria for classifying HUCs and their characteristics), and therefore need separate data to be able to measure and monitor their economic progress and social change;

WHEREAS, as part of its commitment to improve the generation of local-level statistics, the NSCB Technical Staff presented an initial report on the issue to the NSCB Executive Board during its meeting on 20 December 2007;

WHEREAS, one of the recommendations considered by the Board was for NSCB to look into the possibility of revising the Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) to upgrade the codes of HUCs and place them in the same hierarchical level as the provinces to facilitate the processing and generation of statistics for HUCs;

WHEREAS, the issue was referred to the NSCB-created Technical Committee (TC) on Statistical Standards and Classifications, which in turn, referred it to its Technical Working Group (TWG) on the PSGC;

WHEREAS, the TC and the TWG held a series of meetings from January to August 2008 to determine the various options on how the proposed PSGC revision could be undertaken and to discuss the pros and cons of each of these options, with the objective of minimizing the effect of the revision on the existing national databases and registration systems that make use of the PSGC, particularly in terms of changes in data processing applications and corresponding cost of implementation;

WHEREAS, to assist the TC and the TWG in their task, the NSCB Technical Staff conducted a consultation meeting on 21 May 2008 with agencies maintaining nationwide data systems that make use of the PSGC;

WHEREAS, based on the TC and TWG discussions and the result of the consultative meeting with the major PSGC users, it was unanimously affirmed that the main use of the PSGC as geographic locator should be preserved and that the generation of separate data for HUCs could be facilitated by simply using a single-digit variable/field in the data entry and processing systems of concerned agencies to identify HUCs without revising the PSGC;

WHEREAS, in consultation with the major statistical agencies, other data producers, and PSGC users, the NSCB Technical Staff came up with the following policy recommendations relating to the generation of statistics for highly urbanized cities:

1. For all statistics being generated with provincial disaggregation, particularly those from censuses and administrative-based reporting systems, separate figures/data sets should be released for highly urbanized cities and their mother provinces;

2. For all provincial statistics being generated with city/municipal breakdown, the figures/data sets for HUCs should be provided in the tables, but these should not be included in the provincial totals;

3. For these purposes, all agencies producing statistics with provincial and city/municipal disaggregation should be enjoined to make use of an additional single-digit variable/field in their data processing to identify the highly urbanized cities; and

4. For consistency and comparability in the presentation and dissemination of subnational statistics, all data producing agencies should be enjoined to adopt a uniform sequencing of regions, provinces, and HUCs in tabular, graphical, and textual presentations (Annexes BR-11-2008-02 and BR-11-2008-03);

WHEREAS, the TC on Statistical Standards and Classifications and the TWG on the PSGC have taken up these recommendations and both have endorsed them for approval of the Board;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Board approve the recommendations of the NSCB Technical Staff as enumerated above for adoption by all agencies producing statistics with provincial and city/municipal disaggregation;

BE IT RESOLVED FURTHER that the Board enjoin:

1. The National Statistics Office, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, and other data producing agencies to effect necessary changes in their statistical operations to be able to generate data for highly urbanized cities;

2. The data producing agencies to formulate appropriate funding strategies within their respective appropriations and/or other schemes, such as cost sharing arrangements with the LGUs so that they can implement the necessary changes;

3. The Department of Budget and Management to provide the necessary funds, as much as government resources would allow, for the various improvement activities of data-producing agencies geared towards the generation of statistics for HUCs;

4. The LGUs to undertake data generation activities to collect their specific data requirements that could not be produced by the major statistical agencies and other data producers in the Philippine Statistical System based on standard statistical concepts, definitions, techniques, and methodologies, and in coordination with the Regional Statistical Coordination Committees;

5. The LGUs to provide funding, whenever necessary, under resource sharing arrangements with the concerned statistical agencies to enable these agencies to collect the specific data requirements of the local government units; and

6. The LGUs to adopt a community-based monitoring system in accordance with a generally accepted local monitoring system to come up with data at the lowest level of disaggregation (i.e., for barangays and households) as previously prescribed in NSCB Resolution 6-2005.

Approved this 10th day of September 2008, in Pasig City.

Attested by:

ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary General