TACLOBAN
CITY, Oct. 5 (PNA) –- The government is stepping up awareness drive on
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Eastern Visayas as part of the month-long
National Statistics Month (NSM) celebration this October.
“Sustainable
Development: Making Statistics Count” is the theme of this year’s NSM
celebration, which focuses on the critical role of statistics in monitoring the
country’s progress on achieving SDGs.
“Sustainable
Development Goals or the 2030 agenda is a plan for action for people, the
planet and prosperity,” said Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Regional
Director Wilma Perante.
SDG will
play a key role in the target setting. It aims to end poverty, to protect the
planet, and for the people to enjoy peace and prosperity, according to the PSA
official.
As member of
the United Nations, the country will join other countries in adopting the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 SDGs to end
poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.
National
Economic and Development Authority regional project monitoring and evaluation
division chief Evangeline Paransaid the theme is very timely for the region
because Eastern Visayas has been ranked as 2nd poorest region in the country.
“The SDGs
will be the guide to resolve issues concerning the development in Eastern
Visayas,” Paran said.
Poverty
incidence in Eastern Visayas has worsened between 2012 to 2015, making the
region as the country’s second poorest, based on the latest Family Income and
Expenditure Survey result, the PSA reported.
Poverty
level inched up to 47.3 percent during the first half of 2015 from 45.4 percent
three years earlier. The region moved one notch up and dislodged Soccsksargen
as the second poorest region in the country.
The
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao remained the poorest area in the country
with a poverty incidence of 59 percent.
The
month-long celebration, spearheaded by the PSA, aims to promote, enhance and
instill the awareness and appreciation of the public on the importance and
value of statistics.
Joining the
celebration are different government agencies, state universities, and the
private sector.
According to
PSA’s website, the National Statistics Month (NSM) was first observed in 1990
pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 647 signed by then President Corazon
Aquino on Sept. 20, 1990, declaring the month of October of every year as the
NSM.
The NSM
celebration aims to promote, enhance and instill awareness and appreciation of
the importance and value of statistics to the different sectors of society; and
to elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the
quality and standards of statistics in the country. (PNA) JMC/SQM/Dara Pearl
Dacuyan (OJT)/EGR
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