Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No,__ 3354

Introduced by Honorable Neptali M. Gonzales II

EXPLANATORY NOTE

One of the vital components in the process of evolving public
policies and programs that are both effective and responsive to concrete
socioeconomic and political realities is a body of statistics. The result of
comprehensive censuses and/or surveys conducted by the government,
statistics reveal to the policy maker, researcher, academician, and the public
data that impinge upon the State's development of policies, development
agenda, economic plans, among others, precisely for the reason that statistics
are solid, concrete data that paint the realities of our time.

The government, through the Philippine Statistical System, maintains a
solid statistical agenda. And while the system has been proven adequate over
the years, improvements toward a higher level of efficiency and reliability are
needed, not only because of the immense leaps in technology and
information, but because rapid changes in society demand such. Beyond that,
the level of integration of statistical data between and among agencies of the
government and the private sector is needed for a more coherent and
cohesive determination and implementation of policies, programs, and
priorities.

Toward this end, this proposed measure is designed to reorganize the
Philippine Statistical System by providing adequate human, technical, and
financial resources for its evolution into a dynamic, efficient, and responsive
system. It also provides clearer directions for the different research and
statistical agenda of government agencies, and seeks to spur the upgrading
of the statistics profession.

Our times call for the swift and scientific gathering of information, the
precise analysis of data, and the widespread dissemination of the same to the
public. In meeting this challenge, the strengthening of the Philippine Statistical
System is a must, hence this proposed measure.


In the light of the foregoing, immediate approval of this bill is earnestly
sought.

|. GONZALES I


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO,__ 3354

Introduced by Honorable Neptali M. Gonzales II

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘One of the vital components in the process of evolving public
policies and programs that are both effective and responsive to concrete
socioeconomic and political realities is a body of statistics. The result of
comprehensive censuses and/or surveys conducted by the government,
statistics reveal to the policy maker, researcher, academician, and the public
data that impinge upon the State's development of policies, development
agenda, economic plans, among others, precisely for the reason that statistics
are solid, concrete data that paint the realities of our time.

The government, through the Philippine Statistical System, maintains a
solid statistical agenda. And while the system has been proven adequate over
the years, improvements toward a higher level of efficiency and reliability are
needed, not only because of the immense leaps in technology and
information, but because rapid changes in society demand such. Beyond that,
the level of integration of statistical data between and among agencies of the
government and the private sector is needed for a more coherent and
cohesive determination and implementation of policies, programs, and
priorities.

Toward this end, this proposed measure is designed to reorganize the
Philippine Statistical System by providing adequate human, technical, and
financial resources for its evolution into a dynamic, efficient, and responsive
system. It also provides clearer directions for the different research and
statistical agenda of government agencies, and seeks to spur the upgrading
of the statistics profession.

Our times call for the swift and scientific gathering of information, the
precise analysis of data, and the widespread dissemination of the same to the
public. In meeting this challenge, the strengthening of the Philippine Statistical
‘System is a must, hence this proposed measure.


Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 3334.

Introduced by Honorable Neptali M. Gonzales II

AN ACT REORGANIZING THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICAL SYSTEM,
REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER ONE
HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE ENTITLED “REORGANIZING AND
STRENGTHENING THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICAL SYSTEM AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines
in Congress assembled.

SECTION 1. TITLE. This Act shall be known as the “Philippine
Statistical Act of 2010".

SECTION 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY. It shall be the policy of the
State to effect the necessary and proper changes in the organizational and
functional structures of the Philippine Statistical System (PSS), its agencies
and instrumentalities, in order to rationalize and promote efficiency and
effectiveness in the delivery of statistical services, maintain an integrated
statistical system characterized by independence objectivity and integrity so
as to enhance responsiveness to the requirements of equitable national
development, promote the orderly development of a statistical system capable
of providing timely, accurate and useful data for the government and the
public, and support decentralization through the establishment of the
statistical infrastructure necessary to service the statistical needs of local
development planning.

SECTION 3. REORGANIZATION. The Philippine Statistical System,
hereinafter referred to as the PSS, shall be reorganized structurally and
functionally, in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 4. PHILIPPINE STATISTICAL SYSTEM. The PSS shall
consist of statistical organizations at all administrative levels, the personnel
therein and the national statistical program. This includes a policy-making


body, a coordinating body with primary data collection capability, a statistical
research and training institute, and all executive departments, bureaus,
offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the national and local government
and all government-owned and controlled corporations and their subsidiaries
that are engaged in statistical activities either as their primary functions or as
part of their administrative or regulatory functions. The PSS shall remain
decentralized with a strong coordination feature to be achieved through
postings of trained personnel and closer linkage between statistical
programming and budgeting.

SECTION §. NATIONAL STATISTICS AUTHORITY. There shall be
created a National Statistics Authority hereinafter referred to as NSA attached
to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for purposes of
policy coordination. It shall be comprised of the NSA Board and NSA offices
on sectoral statistics, censuses and technical coordination, civil registration
and central support and field statistical services.

The NSA Board shall be the highest policy-making body on statistical
matters. The data produced by the NSA shall be the official and controlling
statistics of the government. The NSA shall be primarily responsible for all
national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of selected
administrative recording systems and compilation of the national accounts.

The NSA shall be constituted from among the existing personnel of the
major statistical agencies engaged in primary data collection and compilation
of secondary data, i.e., the National Statistics Office, herein referred to as
“NSO", the Technical Staff of the National Statistical Coordination Board
herein referred to as “NSCB”, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, herein
referred to as “BAS” and the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics,
herein referred to as “BLES”.

The Department of Economic Statistics of the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) will continue to take charge of banking and financial statistics,
including the Balance of Payments (BOP) and flow of funds.

SECTION 6. FUNCTIONS OF NSA. The NSA shall have the following
functions:

a. Serve as the central statistical authority of the Philippine government
on primary data collection ;

b. Prepare and conduct periodic censuses on population, housing,
agriculture, fisheries, business, industry, and other sectors of the
economy;

c. Collect, compile, analyze, abstract and publish statistical information
relating to the country’s economic, social, demographic, political affairs
and general activities and condition of the people;

d. Prepare and conduct statistical sample surveys on all aspects of
socioeconomic life including agriculture, industry, trade, finance, prices
and marketing information, income and expenditure, education, health,


culture and social situations as well as the government and the
political sector for the use of the government and the public;

e. Carry out, enforce and administer civil registration functions in the
country as provided for in Republic Act No. 3753 (Civil Registry Law);

f. Collaborate with departments of the national government including
government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and their
subsidiaries in the collection, compilation, maintenance and
publication of statistical information, including special statistical data
derived from the activities of those departments, corporations and their
subsidiaries;

g. Promote and develop integrated social and economic statistics and
coordinate plans for the integration of those statistics, including the
national accounts;

h. Develop and maintain appropriate frameworks and standards for the
collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of data:

i. Coordinate with government departments and Local Government
Units (LGUs) on the promotion and adoption of statistical standards
involving techniques, methodologies, concepts, definitions and
classifications, and on the avoidance of duplication in the collection of
statistical information;

j. Conduct continuing methodological, analytical and development
activities, in coordination with the Philippine Statistical Research and
Training Institute (PSRTI) to improve the conduct of censuses,
‘surveys and other data collection activities;

k. Recommend executive and legislative measures to enhance the
development of the statistical activities and programs of the
government,

|. Prepare, in consultation with the NSA Board, a Philippine Statistical
Development Program (PSDP);

m. Implement policies on statistical matters and coordination, as directed
by the NSA Board; and,

n. Perform other functions as may be assigned by the NSA-Board and as
may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 7. COMPOSITION OF THE NSA BOARD. The NSA Board
shall be composed of the following: the Director-General of the NEDA as
Chairperson; a representative of the Department of Budget and Management
(DBM) for budget control, with the rank not lower than that of an
Undersecretary and the National Statistician as Vice-Chairpersons; one
representative each from the remaining Departments in the national
government; a representative of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP); the
Executive Director of the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute
(PSRTI); a representative of the Philippine Statistical Association (PSA); a
representative from the GOCCs, a representative each from the LGUs and
the private sector to be appointed by the Chairperson of the NSA Board for a
term of three years, with reappointment, from a list of nominees submitted by
the other members of the Board.



In the absence or temporary incapacity of the NEDA Director-General, the
National Statistician shall be the acting Chairperson. In the absence of both
the NEDA Director-General and the National Statistician, the DBM
representative shall be the acting Chairperson

The NSA Board shall constitute five sections, each with a maximum of
seven members. Each section shall meet as often as possible to deliberate
on matters to be discussed by the NSA Board. These sections are the
following

a. Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Services, Environment and Natural
Resources, Prices, and National Accounts;

b. Labor and Employment, Population, Health and Welfare, Education,
Science and Technology, and other Socio-Economic Sectors;

c. Census and Survey Design;

d. Theoretical Statistics and Statistical Modeling; and,

e. Statistical Information System and Information Technology.

SECTION 8. MEETING AND COMPENSATION. - The NSA Board shall:

a. Hold regular meetings at least twice a year and may have as many
special meetings as may be necessary on call of the Chairperson or
upon request of any fifteen (15) members thereof,

b. The members of the Board shall each receive per diem at rates to be
determined by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in
accordance with existing rules and regulations: Provided, however, That
the total per diem collected each month shall not exceed the equivalent
per diem for four (4) meetings. Unless and until the President of the
Philippines has fixed a higher per diem for the members of the Board,
such per diem shall not be more than Ten Thousand Pesos
(P10,000.00) for every Board meeting.

SECTION 9. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF NSA BOARD. The NSA
Board shall have the following powers and functions:

a. Establish appropriate mechanisms to promote and maintain an efficient
and effective statistical system in the government;

b. Formulate policies on all matters relating to government statistical
operations, standards and classifications;

c. Recommend executive and legislative measures to enhance the
development and efficiency of the system, including the internal
structure of statistical agencies;

d. Approve the Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP);

e. Review the statistical programs of the departments and agencies of the
national government and the LGUs and rationalize responsibilities in
these government organizations on matters relating to such statistical
programs;

f. Review budgetary proposals involving statistical operations and submit
an integrated budget for the PSS to the DBM;


g. Prescribe appropriate frameworks for the improvement of statistical
coordination and establish mechanisms for statistical coordination at the
regional and LGU levels; and,

h. Provide technical assistance and exercise supervision over major
government statistical activities.

The NSA Board shall act on and decide matters before it by a majority vote
of all its members. A majority of the members of the NSA Board shall
constitute a quorum in the conduct of its day to day affairs and business.

All agencies of government are hereby mandated to comply with any and
all directives requested by the NSA Board, either motu proprio or through the
NSA. Failure without justifiable reason by any agency to comply with this
mandate shall result in the filing of administrative and criminal cases against
the erring government personnel and the immediate superior concerned
without prejudice to violation of any other law or regulation. In a criminal
case, the penalties provided in the second paragraph of Section 26 hereof
shall be made to apply.

SECTION 10. INTER-AGENCY COMMITTEES ON STATISTICS. The
following statistical committees shall be created within the NSA Board, the
members of which are drawn from the membership of the Board: 1)
Committee on Agriculture; 2) Committee on Trade and Industry Statistics; 3)
Committee on Infrastructure; 4) Committee on Financial Statistics;
Committee on Social Statistics; 6) Committee on Environment and Natural
Resources; 7) Committee on Information and Communication Technology; 8)
Committee on Science and Technology; 9) Committee on Governance; 10)
Committee on Migration; 11) Committee on Fiscal Matters; and, 12)
Committee on PSS Resources. The NSA Board may create other inter-
agency committees (IACs) to assist in the exercise of its functions.

SECTION 11. THE NATIONAL STATISTICIAN. The National Statistician,
as head of the NSA, shall have the rank and emoluments of an
undersecretary. He must possess reasonable experience in the management
of data collection, and at least a Masters degree in Statistics. He shall be
appointed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines from among a
list of nominees which shall be submitted by a Special Committee. The
Special Committee shall be composed of representatives from the Philippine
Statistical Association (PSA), the University of the Philippines’ School of
Statistics (UPSS), the University of the Philippines- Los Bafios Institute of
Statistics (UPLB-INSTAT), the Department of Economic Statistics of the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the NEDA.

The National Statistician shall serve for a term of five (5) years with
reappointment.

He shall perform the following duties:


a. Direct and supervise the general administration of the NSA;

b. Prescribe rules and regulations, instructions, schedule and form
of business of the NSA in the collection, compilation and
dissemination of statistics and other information and in the
conduct of any cens

c. Provide overall directions in the implementation of the Civil
Registry Law and related issuances and exercise technical
supervision over the Local Civil Registrars as Civil Registrar
General;

d. Direct and manage the implementation and execution of
policies, standards, rules and regulations formulated by the NSA

Board;

e. Issue appointments of NSA personnel below the rank of
Director;

f. Represent NSA as signatory to all contracts, researches and
other awards.

g. Represent the Philippines in regional and_ international
conference and meetings as the country’s highest authority with
respect to statistical matters;

h. Submit a report to the President of the Republic of the
Philippines through the NEDA Director-General on the activities
of the NSA in the preceding year. Such report shall also be
submitted separately in the annual report to Congress during the
presentation of the President's budget; and

i. Perform such other functions as may be assigned by the NSA
Board

SECTION 12. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE NSA. The NSA
offices shall be composed of the Sectoral Statistics Office, Censuses and
Technical Coordination Office, Civil Registration and Central Support Office,
Field Statistical Services comprising of the Regional Offices and Provincial
Statistical Offices.

The NSA shall be headed by a National Statistician, an office created
under the immediately preceding section of this Act and shall be assisted by
three (3) Deputy National Statisticians, with the rank of Assistant Secretary:

1) Deputy National Statistician for Sectoral Statistics; 2) Deputy National
Statistician for Censuses and Technical Coordination; and 3) Deputy National
Statistician for Civil Registration and Central Support.

Directly under the Office of the National Statistician, there shall likewise
be established support departments on 1) Legal Services; 2) Statistical
Methodology; 3) Internal Audit; 4) Corporate Affairs; and 5) Management and
Corporate Planning. The National Statistician shall be assisted by five (5)
Directors, with ranks not lower than Director IV in these support departments.

The National Statistician shall also supervise the Regional Directors.
They possess the ranks of Director III, of the Regional Statistical Services of


each region and supervise the heads of the respective provincial statistics
offices, with the rank not lower than division chief.

The Deputy National Statistician for Sectoral Statistics shall supervise
three (3) Assistant National Statisticians (ANS), with the rank of Director IV,
who shall oversee the following offices:

1) Macroeconomic Accounts Statistics - shall be responsible for the
development and maintenance of national accounts, regional accounts,
satellite accounts, input/output tables and other related macro-economic
accounts;

2) Economic Sector Statistics - shall be responsible for the production of
primary data on agriculture, industry, trade, services, environment and
natural resources, prices and other related economic statistics; and,

3

Social Sector Statistics — shall be responsible for the production of
primary data on labor and employment, population; health and welfare;
education, science and technology; housing and urbanization; emerging
concerns and other related social statistics.

The Deputy National Statistician for Censuses and Technical
Coordination shall supervise three (3) Assistant National Statisticians, with the
rank of Director IV, who shall oversee the following offices:

1) National Censuses — shall be responsible for the planning of and
production of data from censuses on population and housing,
agriculture, fisheries, and economic activities; and development and
maintenance of sampling frames and geographic information on
population and housing, agriculture, fisheries, and economic activities;

2) Standards — shall be responsible for the formulation and monitoring of
statistical development programs, formulation of standards and
classification, including glossary of statistical terms and geographic
classification;

3) Information Technology and Dissemination — shall be responsible for the
development and maintenance of IT systems and programs, IT
operations, statistical data archives, communication and information
services.

The Deputy National Statistician for Civil Registration and Central
Support shall supervise (2) Assistant National Statisticians, with the rank of
Director IV, who shall oversee the following offices:

1) Civil Registration — shall be responsible for the civil registry document
management and archiving; data center; policy advocacy and research
‘on civil registration matter utlet and customer services; and other civil
registration concerns.



2) Central Support — shall be responsible for the general administration;
financial services; human resource management; human resource
development; and procurement.

SECTION 13. SECTORAL STATISTICS. The Sectoral Statistics shall:
(1) provide technical staff support to the NSA in the areas of agriculture,
natural resources, agrarian reform, mining and quarrying, manufacturing,
electricity, gas and water, energy, construction, foreign and domestic trade,
services, science and technology, finance, investment, population, health,
nutrition, education, labor and employment, social welfare, governance, public
order and justice; (2) provide technical staff support to the NSA in generating
the national accounts and the development and maintenance of economic
and social accounts, (3) plan and conduct surveys as may be required, in
accordance with the approved statistical calendar and (4) perform such other
tasks as may be assigned by the National Statistician.

SECTION 14. CENSUSES AND TECHNICAL COORDINATION. The
Censuses and Technical Coordination shall provide technical staff support to
the NSA. It shall: (1) prepare, conduct, process and disseminate census
results in accordance with the approved statistical calendar; (2) maintain and
develop statistical standards and classification systems; (3) provide technical
assistance to other concerned government offices to meet their statistical
requirements for policy-making, planning and programming; (4) coordinate the
activities of the Regional Statistical Services; (5) provide information
technology systems and programming and IT operations support for the NSA
projects; (6) provide other NSA offices with cartographic services; (7) maintain
archives and communication and information services of NSA generated data;
(8) provide the data center for statistics and civil registration; and (9) perform
such other tasks as may be assigned by the National Statistician.

SECTION 15. CIVIL REGISTRATION AND CENTRAL SUPPORT.
The Civil Registration and Central Support shall provide technical and support
services to the various units of the NSA in the areas of administrative
services, financial management services, human resources. It shall likewise
provide technical and support services for the efficient functioning of civil
registration system and perform such other tasks as may be assigned by the
National Statistician.

SECTION 16. FIELD STATISTICAL SERVICES. Regional Statistical
Services (RSS) and Provincial Statistical Offices (PSO) shalll be established in
each of the administrative regions and provinces, respectively. The RSS and
PSO shall (1) provide technical staff support to the NSA; (2) provide technical
assistance as may be required by the implementing agencies and local
governments in the regions; and (3) perform such other tasks as may be
assigned by the National Statistician.


The RSS shall be headed by Regional Directors with the rank of at least
Director II]. The PSO shall be headed by Provincial Statistics Officers, with the
rank not lower than Division Chief.

SECTION 17. PHILIPPINE STATISTICAL RESEARCH & TRAINING
INSTITUTE. The Philippine Statistical Research & Training Institute (PSRTI)
is hereby created and shall be attached to the NEDA for purposes of policy
coordination. As such, the SRTC is hereby abolished and all SRTC assets
and liabilities, if there be any, shall be transferred to PSRTI.

SECTION 18. FUNCTIONS OF PSRTI. The PSRTI shall be expected to carry
out the following functions:

a. Develop a comprehensive and integrated research and _ training
program on the theories, concepts and methodologies for the
promotion of the statistical system;

b. Undertake research on statistical concepts, definitions and methods;

c. Promote collaborative research efforts among members of the
academic community, data producers and users;

d. Conduct non-degree training programs to upgrade the quality of
statistics personnel and expand the statistics human resource base in
‘support of the needs of the PSS;

e. Provide scholarships, financial and other forms of assistance to build
statistical manpower and enhance training and statistical research and
development, and;

f. Serve as repository of all statistical researches and studies to be
generated by the NSA, and to furnish copies to the National Archives
and the National Library.

SECTION 19. COMPOSITION OF THE PSRTI. The PSRTI shall be
headed by an Executive Director with a rank and emoluments equivalent to an
Assistant Secretary, who shall be nominated by the NSA Board and appointed
by the President of the Republic of the Philippines. The PSRTI! Executive
Director shall have at least a Master's degree in Statistics.

The PSRTI shall have a Governing Board that shall formulate policies for
its management and operations. The NSA Board Chairperson shall be the
Chairperson of the PSRTI Governing Board, with the following as members:
Dean of the University of the Philippines’ School of Statistics (UPSS),
Executive Director of the Philippine Social Science Council (PSCC), a
representative of the NEDA and the Executive Director of the PSRTI as ex-
officio members. The NSA Board Chairperson may appoint two
representatives from the private sector of the PSRTI Governing Board from
among a list of nominees submitted by the Board.


The PSRTI Governing Board shall meet at least every semester to discuss
and formulate policies for the management and operations of the PSRTI. The
PSRTI shall provide reasonable allowances to its Governing Board.

SECTION 20. PSRTI FELLOWS AND ASSOCIATES. The PSRTI shall be
authorized to engage professionals either as fellows or associates, for
purposes of conducting training sessions and researches for PSRTI. Fellows
should have experience in research or training and should preferably have
eared a Ph.D. in Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences, Computer Sciences
or related disciplines while associates should have earned at least a Master's
degree in the said fields. Those so engaged by the PSRTI shall be issued
appointments and shall be paid fees as determined by the PSRTI, and as
approved by NSA Board.

SECTION 21. PSRTI| ENDOWMENT FUND. The existing SRTC
Endowment Fund is to be transferred to the PSRTI and shall serve as the
initial PSRTI Endowment Fund. The PSRTI is authorized to accept into its
Endowment Fund any contributions, donations, bequests, grants and loans
from domestic and/or foreign sources, government appropriations and other
incomes accruing from the operations of PSRTI, for purposes of executing its
mandate and functions.

There is hereby appropriated, out of any fund in the National Treasury or
other sources not otherwise appropriated, the sum of at least Twenty Million
Pesos (Php20,000,000.00) upon the effectivity of this Act in order to augment
the PSRTI Endowment Fund. The said amount shall be automatically
appropriated for the succeeding years until the tenth year following the
effectivity of this Act.

SECTION 22. PSRTI OPERATING FUNDS. There is hereby appropriated
and programmed for immediate release out of any unappropriated balances in
the National Treasury or other sources the amount of Fifty Million Pesos
(PhPS0,000,000.00) as the initial operating fund of the PSRTI.

For succeeding years, the PSRTI shall submit to the DBM, after approval
by its Governing Board an annual financial plan to support its research and
training program. The approved financial plan shall be the basis for
determining the government contribution to finance PSRTI research and
training activities.

SECTION 23. POSTING OF STATISTICAL PERSONNEL IN
GOVERNMENT OFFICES. In the exercise of its functions and in accordance
with the priorities set by the NSA Board, the NSA may post teams of its
statistical personnel in other government offices to carry out the work program
to be drawn up in coordination with the host offices. The posted teams shall
be proportional to the size and needs of the said government offices.
Personnel posted in a government office shall be supervised by the Deputy


National Statistician for Sectoral Statistics and shall render fortnightly
statistics reports to the Office of the National Statistician. The heads of the
host offices shall submit periodic performance evaluation reports on the
posted personnel to the National Statistician.

SECTION 24. PHILIPPINE STATISTICAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
The Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP) shall consist of all
statistical activities to be undertaken by the PSS in response to the
requirements of development planning and policy formulation.

SECTION 25. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION. Individual data
furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys and censuses of the
NSA shall be considered privileged communication and as such shall be
inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.

NSA may release aggregated information from statistical inquiries, surveys
and censuses in the form of summaries or statistical tables in which no
reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or
business enterprise shall appear.

The National Statistician and all staff of NSA shall take a solemn oath
regarding confidentiality of information. | However, confidentiality of
information does not apply to:

a) Information in the form of a list or index of individual business firms,
establishments or organizations that contain any or all of the
following information: 1) the name, address, and telephone numbers;
2) the business and products that they are engaged in; and 3) the
‘specific ranges of number of employees;

Microdata from statistical inquiries or survey form/questionnaire/
schedule prepared by NSA for purposes of research, with care to
ensure that identities of a particular person, business or organization
will not be disclosed in whatever form; and

¢) Access to census data after 100 years for historical, genealogical,

scientific or other research purposes.

b)

SECTION 26. PENALTIES. Respondents of primary data collection
activities such as censuses and sample surveys are obliged to give truthful
and complete answers to statistical inquiries. The gathering, consolidation
and analysis of such data shall likewise be done in the most truthful and
credible manner.

To ensure compliance, any violation of this section shall result in the
imposition of the penalty of one (1) year imprisonment and a fine of One
Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 100,000.00). In cases where the respondent
who shall fail to give a truthful and complete answer to such statistical
inquiries is a corporation, the above penalty shall be imposed against the


responsible officer, director, manager and/or agent of said corporation and a
fine ranging from One Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 100,000.00) to Five
Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 500,000.00), depending on the category of
the enterprise or business concerned whether small, medium or large, shall,
on the other hand, be imposed against such erring corporation or any other
juridical entity.

Any person, including parties within NSA Board and NSA, who breach
the confidentiality of information, whether by carelessness, improper behavior,
behavior with malicious intent, and use of confidential information for profit,
are considered guilty of an offense and shall be liable to fines as prescribed
by the NSA Board which shall not be less than Five Thousand Pesos
(Php5,000.00) nor more than Ten Thousand Pesos (Php10,000.00), and/or
imprisonment of three (3) months but not to exceed one (1) year, subject to
the degree of breach of information.

Failure to comply with the survey clearance provision shall result in the
imposition of a fine of Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00) to One Hundred
Thousand Pesos (Php 100,000.00), depending on the gravity and seriousness
of such non-compliance.

SECTION 27. ABOLITION OF EXISTING GOVERNMENT BODIES.
The National Statistics Office (NSO), the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics
(BAS) of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Labor and Employment
Statistics (BLES) of the Department of Labor and Employment, and the
National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) shall be abolished and their
appropriations, records, properties, and personnel shall be transferred to the
NSA.

SECTION 28. FUNDS FOR REORGANIZATION. The amount
necessary for the effective implementation of the provision of this Act shall be
taken from funds available to the agencies affected by Section 27 hereof. In
addition to the existing appropriations of said agencies affected by Section 27,
additional requirements shall be charged to the appropriations for the
Compensation and Organizational Adjustment Fund under the current
General Appropriations Act. Thereafter, such sum as may be needed for the
continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General
Appropriations Act.

SECTION 29. IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS. The
NSA Board together with the NSA, the PSRTI, the NEDA and other
concerned agencies of government that may be determined by the NSA
Board, shall formulate the implementing rules and regulations of this Act
within ninety (90) days after its approval. Such rules and regulations shall take
effect fifteen (15) days after their publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in the Philippines.


SECTION 30. SEPARABILITY CLAUSE. If any part, section or
provision of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, no other parts,
sections or provisions thereof shall he affected thereby.

SECTION 31. REPEALING CLAUSE. Executive Order No. 121 and all
other laws, decrees, ordinances, rules, regulations, other issuances, or parts
thereof which are inconsistent with this Act, are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

SECTION 32. EFFECTIVITY CLAUSE. This Act shall take effect upon
its approval.

Approved,