The Philippine Statistical System (PSS) held the joint 3rd World Statistics Day (WSD) celebration and 31st National Statistics Month (NSM) Closing Ceremony on 20 October 2020 via Zoom and Facebook live. The joint celebration was hosted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

This year, the worldwide celebration of the WSD carried the slogan “Connecting the world with data we can trust,” which reflects on the importance of trust, authoritative data, innovation, and the public good in national statistical systems. The 31st NSM celebration, on the other hand, adopted the theme “Bridging Digital Gaps: Making Information Available to All” which recognizes the importance of digitalization but emphasizes the need to address the social inequality in terms of access and use of information and communications technology.

Undersecretary Dennis S. Mapa of the PSA welcomed the participants to Closing Ceremony. In his welcome remarks, he highlighted that trust is crucial to national statistical systems, particularly in this time of pandemic, to effectively deliver reliable statistics used by policy- and decision-makers in understanding the needs of the country.

The 3rd WSD celebration in the Philippines was made even more special with video messages from the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) Director Stefan Schweinfest, and Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) Executive Head Johannes Jutting.

Presentations on the overview of the WSD, international quality assurance frameworks, the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) statistical standards, the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), and audio-visual presentations on its e-classifications were also featured during the event. Ms. Yemesrach Workie of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines also discussed the quality assurance process adopted by the UNDP in the face of COVID-19 in the Philippines.

Deputy National Statistician Rosalinda P. Bautista formally closed the celebration. In her message, she cited the need to ensure that the public can trust the statistics generated by the PSS. She then thanked the speakers, guests, and participants for making the ceremony a success amidst the current situation. She invited them to join again in the celebration of the 4th WSD in 2025 and 32nd NSM in October next year.

The Closing Ceremony was also highlighted with the announcement of the winners of the 30th NSM Awards. The NSM Awards are given in recognition of outstanding participation of agencies and regional offices, local government unit (LGUs), youth organizations, and the private sector in the NSM celebration.

The 30th NSM Awards were given to individual winners in five categories. Awarded with a plaque and cash prize each, the winners are as follows:

• Best Statistical Activity Conducted by a Government Organization
- Statistical Forum on Data Innovation and Development by University of Southeastern Philippines
• Best Statistical Activity Conducted by a Private Organization
- EcOlympics by Saint Louis University – Progressive Economists’ Solidarity
• Best NSM Region
- Region VIII (Eastern Visayas)
• Best Youth Group Advocate for Statistics
- University of the Philippines Variates
• Best LGU Advocate for Statistics
- Local Government of Pangasinan

For more information/updates on the 31st NSM celebration, you may visit the following pages:

• NSM webpage - https://psa.gov.ph/nsm/announcements/31st
• NSM FB page - https://www.facebook.com/NSMPhilippines
• NSM twitter page - https://twitter.com/NSMPhilippines

- Standards Service, Censuses and Technical Coordination Office