16 May 2024 – Pasay City. The Philippine Statistics Authority National Capital Region – Provincial Statistical Office V (PSA NCR – PSO V) conducted the City/ Municipal-Level Training on the Adoption of the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC) for the City of Parañaque on 16 May 2024 through online platform.

Present during the online training were the selected personnel and staff of PSA NCR-PSO V headed by the Chief Statistical Specialist (CSS), Ms. Estrella R. Vargas, together with the employees from the PSA Censuses and Technical Coordination Office - Standard Classification Division (PSA CTCO – SCD), Ms. Charity Anne Crite Almazan and Mr. Emmanuel Prades, as well as the  Senior Statistical Specialist and Officer-in-Charge in the Statistical Operations and Coordination Division (SOCD) of the Regional Statistical Services Office-NCR (RSSO-NCR), Mr. Jing C. Rocabo, representatives from the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) and City Health Office of the Local Government Unit of Parañaque City.

The training was intended to capacitate the Local Government Units (LGUs) regarding the adoption of PSIC and the Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) as one of the primary mandates of the PSA in institutionalizing and uplifting the standards of the statistical system in the country that strengthen partnership and collaboration to generate a more granular and comparable statistics at the national and local level.

As such, one of the highlights during the training were the coding exercises and illustration on how to generate statistical tables and data appreciation activity as an application of PSIC and PSGC which was presented and facilitated by the Senior Statistical Specialist (SrSS) of PSA NCR-PSO V, Mr. Joemar P. Jerez.

Also, part of the activity were the presentation on the overview of the statistical classification systems, discussion on the rules in classifying economic activities, and demonstration on the introduction to PSIC and PSGC reference files as well as the summary of the 2019 updates to the 2009 PSIC.

Moreover, issues and concerns from the LGU of Parañaque City regarding PSIC and PSGC were also acknowledged as part of the initiative for the primary step towards the adoption of standard classifications in the city. According to Mr. James Daryl De Castro, Computer Programmer II of BPLO-Parañaque City, they find it difficult to adopt with PSIC since they already have an establish line of business in their Statistical Business Register process  following the Local Government Classification Tax Code. However, they appreciate the relevance of PSIC and PSGC as it provides a detailed and specific  classifications on the main economic activity of a certain establishment.

The training ended with a closing remarks coming from CSS Vargas where she emphasized the vital role of standard classification in the generation of disaggregated data at the national and local level as a basis for data-driven decisions. She also recognized the presence of the participants as it showed support for a continuos collaboration between the PSA and the LGU.

With this, the PSA NCR-PSO V remains committed to further exemplify its efforts towards a sustainable and resilient statistical system through viable services that cut-across within a solid and equitable partnership on various stakeholders, especially the LGUs.

-Regional Statistics Services Office–NCR PSO V