NSO conducts two surveys this month
The National Statistics Office kicks off the second quarter of the year with two establishment surveys, the 2009 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry or the ASPBI and the 2009 Survey on Information and Communication Technology or SICT.
The 2009 ASPBI will cover the formal sector of the economy that includes the corporations and partnerships, cooperatives and foundations, single proprietorships with employment of 10 or more and single proprietorship with branches. The decision to include only the formal sector for this year’s ASPBI coverage was based on the coverage was based on the contribution of this group to the value added of the major sectors. In 11 of the 14 sectors, value added of the formal sector ranged from 80 to 100 percent of the total.
The 2009 ASPBI is a continuing activity of the NSO, which aims to collect and generate information on the structure and trends of economic activities in the entire country for the year 2008.
On the other hand, the role of information and communication technology in development has been recognized by the government through such landmark measures as the eCommerce Act, National Information Technology Plan 2000 which evolved into the National Information Technology Plan 2000 for the 21st century, Government Information System Plan (GISP) and the creation of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT). These measures are instituted not only to promote ICT consciousness and capacity building but more importantly to provide for a favorable ICT environment for business, public administration and services delivery, education and communications.
The 2009 SICT is the second ICT survey being conducted. The first was in 2002. It is a rider survey of the 2009 ASPBI. The survey aims to gather and generate information on the availability, distribution and access or utilization of ICT establishments in the country. The measurement of ICT access and use will enable the assessment and monitoring of the digital divide in the country. Furthermore, the survey will generate core ICT indicators important for measuring the progress in information and communication technology.
Various legislative acts and presidential directives authorize both surveys. All information gathered from these undertakings is regarded as strictly confidential and cannot be disclosed to any entity or individual. The data will be published in the form of summaries or statistical tables in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association or business enterprise.
Negros Occidental has 696 sample establishments for ASPBI and 258 sample establishments for SICT. In both surveys, Bacolod City got the biggest share of the total sample for the province. For ASPBI, 445 business establishments from different sectors will be furnished with questionnaire and 168 business establishments will be provided with SICT questionnaire. The owner, manager, accountant or bookkeeper or any personal knowledgeable about the business’ transactions for 2008 could accomplish the questionnaire.
The two surveys will be conducted nationwide this April. (NSO/PIA/EAD)