19 May 2023 - Quezon City. Committed to deliver the institution’s products and services more efficiently in line with the theme of its 10th Anniversary: “PSA@10: Providing Quality Services Through Digital Transformation,” the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) launched the Info Caravan at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, School of Economics and School of Statistics on 25 April and 15 May 2023, respectively.

Dubbed as “R.I.D.E. (Register, Inform, Deliver, and Engage) with PSA,” the caravan catered the needs of UP students, faculty and other employees, and its community in terms of statistical data, civil registration documents, and National ID concerns. Specifically, the following info booths were exhibited at the UP School of Economics’ lobby: Civil Registration Service, PhilSys Registration, Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), Census of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Human Resources Division’s information desk.

The said information desks accommodated clients while a forum simultaneously happened in the afternoon spearheaded by Officer-in-Charge (OIC)-Deputy National Statistician (DNS) Minerva Eloisa P. Esquivias with expert speakers from the subject matter divisions. In the forum, the resource speakers discussed the overview of Civil Registration and Philippine Identification System, methodology and data analysis of the Provincial Products Accounts, data enclave, PSA Data Archive (PSADA), OpenSTAT, and analysis of the geospatial component of the CBMS. 

Aside from the usual information booths for PSA products and services, UP School of Statistics (UPSS) students were given opportunities to explore the CBMS’ geo-mapping applications and navigate the PSADA and OpenSTAT websites for the PSA data. The forum for the UPSS that was led by OIC-Assistant National Statistician (ANS) Noel G. Perez particularly focused on data access and challenges of performing surveys, official statistics of PSA that are useful for research, applications for research sampling designs, and actual careers in PSA relevant with statistics.

The culmination of the caravan in the said schools recorded 217 clients for the PhilSys Registration, 94 clients have verified the status of their National IDs for the PhilID Issuance, and 64 from them received their printed e-PhilIDs after the verification process. The successful operations for the National ID were led by Apolinar F. Oblea, Chief Statistical Specialist of the Provincial Statistical Office (PSO) – National Capital Region (NCR) II.

In addition, the Civil Registration Service staff headed by Jasmine Dizon, Registration Officer III of the Civil Registration Services Division assisted 165 clients involving a total of 270 transactions: (a) 218 for birth certificate, (b) 31 for marriage certificate, (c) 11 for death certificate, and (d) 10 for certificate of no marriage or CENOMAR. For clients’ inquiries, the team addressed 38 concerns relating to correction of entries, late registration, and legitimation of civil registration documents.

The processed civil registration documents of clients or their immediate family were claimed through designated focal persons two to three days after the event. Unclaimed documents were made available at the PSA Central Office, East Avenue, Quezon City.

The said activity is still consistent with the PSA’s dedication to realize its mandates and to let clients and stakeholders grasp deeper understanding and appreciation of the institution’s products and services.

- Knowledge Management and Communications Division, Information Technology and Dissemination Service