ILOCOS SUR, Oct. 25 (PIA) - The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Ilocos Sur Provincial Statistical Office spearheaded the conduct of various activities for the month-long annual celebration of the 31st National Statistics Month (NSM) this October.

This year's theme "Bridging Digital Gaps: Making Information Available To All," intends to call for exploring ways through the use of modern technologies of communication and different media platforms to inform and provide quality statistics for all.

Chief Statistical Specialist Reynor Fernando of PSA-Ilocos Sur Provincial Statistical Office said, "The annual celebration of the NSM reminds us the importance and value of statistics to the different sectors of the society and elicits cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality and standards of statistics in the country especially during this time of COVID-19 pandemic."

"Despite our current situation, our appreciation to the importance of statistics continues by coming up with activities to be participated by the different national government agencies, local government units, Department of Education and higher education institutions in accordance to the minimum protocols set by the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases," Fernando told the Philippine Information Agency.

Among the activities conducted for the month-long celebration include: media blast posted in PSA's social media pages; hanging of streamers; virtual jingle singing contest, poster-slogan making contest, essay writing contest (students and employees category) and oratorical contest; and statistics quiz.

The Search for the Best 31stNSM Province Implementer and the Virtual Statistical Forum are scheduled on October 26 and October 29, respectively.

The virtual closing ceremony and awarding of regional winners are slated on October 30.

The NSM is annually observed nationwide pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation No. 647 signed by former President Corazon C. Aquino on September 29, 1990 declaring the month of October of every year as the National Statistics Month.

The NSM aims to promote, enhance and instill awareness and appreciation on the importance and value of statistics to the different sectors of the society; and to elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality and standards of statistics in the country.

Meanwhile, PSA has rolled out the pre-registration for the Philippine Identification System in Ilocos Sur which is among the 32 identified provinces to be the first batch to undergo the process.

Jeanette Marzan, supervising statistical specialist of PSA-Ilocos Sur, said they are collecting demographic information from a total of 122, 422 heads of low-income households from the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Listahanan program as the initial targets of the pre-registration.

The pre-registration will include house-to-house calls of enumerators to gather demographic data such as name, sex, place and date of birth, blood type, among others which started last October 12.

It will be followed by the registration which will commence on November 25, 2020 and involves the validation and biometric capture of the registrants' fingerprints, iris scan, and photographs.

The issuance of the registrants' Personal Serial Number and the Philippine Identification card will begin probably towards the end of December.

Signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.

The national ID shall be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.

It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (JCR/AMB/PIA Ilocos Sur)