Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 4 (PIA) — Be honest in responding to
the questionaires.
This was the appeal of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Bohol
Statistician Jessamyne Anne Alcazaren during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.
PSA will conduct between July 11 to August 2 the Labor
Force Survey-Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (LFS-APIS) with trained
enumerators extracting the data from heads of families or their spouses as
respondents.
“No one in the household is more knowledgeable in the family’s
spending patterns,” she explained.
PSA is primarily responsible for the implementation of the
provisions of R.A. 10625, especially in planning, developing, prescribing,
disseminating and enforcing policies, rules and regulations and coordinate
government-wide programs governing the production of official statistics,
general-purpose statistics, and civil registration services, according to the
PSA website.
PSA is responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral
statistics, consolidation of selected administrative recording systems and
compilation of national accounts.
The APIS is a nationwide sample survey designed to provide
information on the different indicators related to poverty.
“APIS aims to provide inputs to the development of an integrated
poverty indicator and monitoring system which would enhance timely, accurate
and consistent production of poverty-related data that can be used at the
national levels,” the website states.
APIS supplements identification of the poor families through the
use of non-income indicators, providing information on the socio-economic
profile of families and other information relating to their living conditions.
According to the PSA, the data from the survey are demographic and
economic characteristics, health status and education of the family members;
awareness and use of family planning methods; housing, water and sanitation
condition of the families; availment of credit to finance the family business
or enterprise; and income and expenditures of the family.
In survey enumerations like the APIS, PSA knows that many
respondents find it inconvenient to respond to the questions thinking it
entails income and expenditures.
“It is not for taxation purposes,” assured Alcazaren.
The PSA chief assured that their enumerators would treat survey
responses with a high degree of confidentiality.
“This treatment also puts enumerators in the risk of imprisonment
should they be proven to have shared vital information,” Alcazaren said.
“These people are bound by law to maintain strict
confidentiality,” she said. (rmn/rac/PIA-7/Bohol)