SMI 3rd Phase and RuMEPP Projects on the Go

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The secretariat and the project management team members are currently busy with the SMI 3rd Phase and RuMEPP Projects, the latter is a recently bagged project with the Department of Trade and Industry-Sarangani Province.

The SMI project is presently coordinated by LJ Zaragosa. Under him are 11 other field personnel doing the enumeration across two regions and four provinces.

Rizza Nacar is in coordinative task of the RuMEPP Project. This baseline study is anchored on the logical framework that was developed by the Programme's main contractor--Orient Integrated Development Consultants, Inc.. It employs a survey to 139 microenterprises and conduct of 3 focus group discussions.

Judith Janiola is GSC Dangal ng Gensan Awardee

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Judith Janiola is GSC Dangal ng Gensan Awardee, a recognition initiative of Mayor Pedro B. Acharon's Year of Excellence.

The Dangal ng Gensan Award is given to an individual for performance of extraordinary act or public service and consistent demonstration of exemplary ethical behavior on the basis of observance of the norms of conduct provided under Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Judith is an active board member of the Philippine Statistical Association SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. She has an MPA from the Mindanao State University.
She is currently a population programme officer I of the City Population Management Office.

PSA Members Go Abroad in 2008

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Last March, Dennis Matutina went to Jakarta, Indonesia to attend an ICT workshop.

As far as membership development is concerned, 2008 is a year filled with so much opportunities. Last April, thirteen PSA members went to Singapore-Malaysia as part of the group in the 1st PSA ASEAN Study Tour.


By June, Engr. Adela Fiesta represented PSA SOCCSKSARGEN to the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS at the United Nations headquarters in New York!


The following month saw Prof. Aurna de Leon presenting her poster in the International Congress of Psychology in Berlin, Germany. Her picture is shown above this article. Aurna is supported by her school--the Notre Dame of Dadiangas University where she is currently a guidance councilor and a faculty member of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2004, she presented her poster in the 4th International Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health (ICRSH) in Bangkok, Thailand together with Danny Alfaras.

Engr. Jilldon Dalipe went to a one-week tour in the famous Macau and Hongkong. Shelah Manzano and two of her friends went to Singapore and Malaysia. After she went back, Ms. Manzano just prepared some of her documents and flew to Dubai for a one-month acclimatization work.

Thomas Montales did have a wonderful time at Singapore and Malaysia together with some of his colleagues.

To all of you guys! Take a bow.

Prof. Alfie Custodio at SPSS Directions User Conference

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The Philippine Statistical Association SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. is represented in the SPSS Directions User Conference held recently at Sofitel Hotel, Makati City. Prof. Alfie Custodio believed that, "The Directions User Conference delivers the training, technology and best practices to improve performance and drive results across any organization with the power of Predictive Analytics".





With this efforts, SPSS through its country distributor ACRE Inc., continues to lead the market in offering Predictive Analytics software and solutions that drive revenue growth and operational efficiency by automating data-driven decision making within business processes.



Prof. Custodio is currently a doctoral student in economics at the University of Santo Tomas. She obtained her MA Economics degree from Ateneo de Davao University and her BSBA at Mindanao State University Tambler Campus.

19th National Statistics Month in General Santos City

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The National Statistics Month (NSM) celebration was a great success in General Santos City. Thanks in part to the strong collaboration among the leading entities in the area: The Local Government Unit of General Santos City (under the baton of Mayor Pedro B. Acharon, Jr.), The National Statistics Month Provincial Office (under the stewardship of Mr. Ruben Abaro, Jr.) and the Philippine Statistical Association SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. (under the able leadership of FJ Babate and the coordinative efforts of Lovejoy Zaragoza).

By the way, the NSM was first observed in 1990 pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 647 signed by then President Corazon C. Aquino on September 20, 1990, Declaring the Month of October of Every Year as the National Statistics Month.

The NSM celebration aims to:

1. promote, enhance and instill awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics to the different sectors of society; and, 2. to elicit the cooperation and support of the general public in upgrading the quality and standards of statistics in the country.

For this year's celebration, we had the usual streamer hanging among various offices (most of them were companies), motorcade and exhibition opening at the city hall lobby.

During the opening ceremonies, Ms. Perla G. Castellano welcomed the guests and advocates while Mr. Ruben Abaro, Jr. provided a good glimpse of the NSM. Meanwhile, Mr. Lovejoy Zaragoza and Shillah Manzano represented PSA and LGU General Santos, respectively in the regional opening event at Koronadal City.


We got one national event to jumpstart our long-month celebration with the holding of the 1st National Conference on Social Planning, Evaluation and Statistics last October 3-5, 2008 at the Family County Hotel and Convention Center and in Sarangani Province (where the learning journey took place). This project is a partnership between the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. and the GENSARWAI Foundation Inc. We got participants as far as north of Tuguegarao City and Isabela City to the heart of Visayas such as Kabankalan, Silay and Bacolod cities as well as Ormoc and Cebu cities to the south of the country such as Butuan, Gingoog and Cotabato cities.

Between October 13-15 saw the holding of the statistical lectures on the State of Microenterprises in General Santos City (at the city's Social Development Center), State of Microfinance (at the PMU Conference Room) and the State of Hospitality Industries (at the NSO Conference and Training Hall). We got tremendous support from the Department of Trade and Industry-General Santos City which sponsored the refreshment for one statistical lecture.

On October 17, we had our 1st PSA Eugenio Millado Memorial Research Forum at the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges. Two researches were presented: poster presentation by Prof. Aurna de Leon which coincidentally was also presented in this year's International Congress of Psychology in Berlin, Germany and the oral presentation of Dr. Mae Cheung whose research was the original version of her doctoral dissertation. Profs. Mimi Flamiano and Florence Zapico of the Mindanao State University provided their rejoinder.
We also sent our PSA BOD member to the SRTC-led statistical training held in Cagayan de Oro City for five days.

Last October 29th was the finale of the NSM with the holding of the 17th Philippine Statistics Quiz (PSQ) City Elimination at the Family Country Hotel and Convention Center. No less than our city councilor, Hon. Margareth Santos graced the event. She was always at the NSM event for the last three years. This year's PSQ had Ms. Marifi de Asis, MBA as its quizmaster. Back in 1990, Ms. de Asis was a regional PSQ champion for Region 8 representing her school -- the Visayas State College of Agriculture (VISCA). Today, she is connected with the NSO South Cotabato Office and an active officer of the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc.

Three (3) bets from the Mindanao State University Fatima campus romped off the first three slots and the remaining two slots went to the Notre Dame of Dadiangas University's participants. All five of the qualifiers will slug it out in the regional elims to be held in Cotabato City on the middle of November.

We are grateful that our perrenial sponsors like the SOCOTECO II, General Santos Water District, Southern Mindanao Adventist and Fiesta Appliance were really supportive in this cause.

1st PSA Eugenio Millado Memorial Foundation

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1st PSA Eugenio Millado Memorial Research Forum took its initial launch at the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College (RMMC) campus. Prof. Aurna de Leon did a poster presentation entitled, "The Difficulties of the Homosexual Students: A Case Study". This is a re-echo of Prof. de Leon's presentation which was previously done last July 2008 during the International Congress of Psychology in Berlin, Germany.

Prof. Mary Mae Cheung likewise did an oral presentation entitled, "Soil-transmitted Helminthiases in School-Aged Children in Sarangani Province: Towards a Learning Package in Health Education"




This project is a partnership between the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. and the Atty. Eugenio Millado Memorial Foundation (the social arm of the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges) under the tutelage of Prof. Josephine Sabas, RSW, MA

1st National Conference on Social Planning, Evaluation and Statistics

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The 1st National Conference on Social Planning, Evaluation and Statistics held in General Santos City (on October 3-4) was a novel idea which finally became a reality. The idea of coming up a national event was something that our colleagues from the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. was hatching up a year ago after the successful hosting of our group of the "4th Mindanao Statistics Congress".Our resource speakers have lived up the expectations of many participants. Local historian and quintessential man, Teodulo "Jong" Ramirez, keynoted the conference.

Read more

SPSS Training Workshop No.1

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Engr. Zarinah Aligsao, Engr. Jilldon Dalipe and Emmylou Aujero led the SPSS Training No.1 last September 13-14, 2008 at Marasa Grill and Resto, General Santos City.

The objectives of the training workshop are to learn to use SPSS, a statistical analysis and data management program.

There were 12 people who attended the said event which was coordinated by the PSA Mindanao Academy director, Ms. Ellen M. Dalagan, MM.

PSA Members Participated in the SPSS Version 16 Training

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Three young and energetic members of the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN participated in the SPSS Version 16 Training held at the ACRE Training Center in Pasong Tamo Street, Makati City on August 19-21, 2008.

More Photos To Follow

Prof. Alfie Custodio Attended AIM Conference

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Prof. Alfie Custodio who is currently on study leave at the University of Santo Tomas and an active member of the Association was kind enough to attend and was the first to register in the AIM Policy Center's July 4 conference in Makati City.
The event was a presentation of the official results of the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Program (PCCRP), a flagship research undertaking of the AIM Policy Center, which seeks to identify the best cities in the Philippines in which to live, work and operate a business.

For the 2007 Round, the survey covered 90 cities, and rated them on the basis of the following competitiveness drivers: dynamism of local economy, cost of doing business, infrastructure, human resources and training, responsiveness of LGU to business needs and quality of life.

The cities were classified into metro, mid-sized and small. 25 cities were chosen as top performing based on the criteria. Among the 25, four cities are in the National Capital Region, 11 in Luzon, 4 in the Visayas, and 6 in Mindanao.



The top performing for metro cities category, in alphabetical order were: Davao, Lapu-Lapu, Makati, Manila, Marikina and Quezon City.

Among the 25 mid-sized cities, the top-performing cities in alphabetical order were Cabanatuan, General Santos, Lucena, Olongapo, San Pablo, Tagum and Tarlac.



And the top performing cities from among 45 small-sized cities were (in alphabetical order): Bayawan, Calapan, Calbayog, Dagupan, Dipolog, Laoag, San Fernando (La Union), Malaybalay, Naga, Surigao, Tagbilaran and Tuguegarao.



The PCCRP is a biennial independent study conducted throughout the archipelago, which aims to rank cities on the basis of economic performance and responsiveness to business enterprise.



Launched in 1999, the Program envisions to promote national competitiveness by encouraging healthy competition among highly urbanized and emerging cities, emphasizing the crucial roles of small and medium enterprises as the backbone of local development. By gathering and compiling strategic data and providing focused analyses of the results, the PCCRP also seeks to cultivate competitive industries, promote healthy communities and maximize the economic potentials of the cities.



Over the years, the PCCRP results have served as benchmarks for local chief executives, city planners, and economic and development managers in improving their development strides in their cities.

This latest survey was launched and completed in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), SM Investments Inc., and the Petron Corporation.

PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Member Attended UN New York Meeting

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A member of the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. has attended the 2008 high-level meeting on AIDS that took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York last 10 - 11 June.

Engr. Adela Fiesta from Cotabato City attended this high-level meeting whose intention was to review the progress made in implementing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

































Also the assistant city planning coordinator of Cotabato City, Engr. Fiesta represented the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. and she is one of the four (4) delegates from the Philippines.

Cashflow 101 Session

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The president of Sarangani Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Mr. Alfredo Bronx Hebrona) has provided the PSA officers with a good lesson in basic financial literacy as well as an introduction of the Cashflow 101.


Cashflow 101 is a didactic game designed by investor, businessman, and self-help author Robert Kiyosaki to serve as a tool for learning basic financial strategies and accounting principles. Cashflow 101 is the first of several games created by Kiyosaki to reinforce the information in his books.


The board has two tracks: A "Rat Race" small circle where you only roll one die to advance, and a "Fast Track" where you roll two dice to advance. In the Rat Race you get paid for passing your Paycheck space, and then draw from one of four decks of cards depending on which space you've landed. Some of the deals are good, others are bad. Your main problem here is a shortage of cash. In the Fast Track your main problem is an excess of cash and finding investments to sink it into before you lose it to lawsuits, divorce or tax audits.


The heart of the game though are the player sheets where players learn how to fill out a financial statement. Players choose from a variety of starting careers (Truck Driver, Mechanic, Lawyer, Airline Pilot, etc.) and fill out their financial sheets appropriately. As they land cards and invest in different deals they dutifully log each change to their financial sheets as well. After a few games most people end up using the same financial sheets to fill out their own personal information. For us, we chose the nursing career.


With each card event the drawing player may buy at that price, but all players may sell at that price. Also, players may make co-investments with the drawing player or even buy the deal from him if they agree. Player deals are encouraged.


The game with few players is heavily biased towards real estate. With 5-6 players the cards are being drawn fast enough that the part time businesses pay off as well.


Later in the game, the vice-president of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and concurrent president of Sultan Kudarat Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Elena Haw joined us as it was her first time to play the 101 game.


Truly, it was a good experience.

PSA Greater Mekong Learning Journey and 2nd PSA ASEAN Study Tour

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PSA Greater Mekong Learning Journey
April 20-25, 2009
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand
P 32,000 (inclusive of international airfare, accomodation, breakfast and kit)

2nd PSA ASEAN Study Tour
April 20-25, 2009
Singapore and Malaysia

P 28,000 (inclusive of international airfare, accomodation, breakfast and kit)
For early reservations, downpayment and institutional matching arrangement, please send an SMS to Juday (09177314457)

1st PSA ASEAN Study Tour

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The maiden international project of the Association proved to be a success. Twelve (12) participants from the academia, business, local government, non-government and business sectors have great learning experience as well as leisure moments. Heading the cast of participants were FJ Babate (team leader), Alfredo Bronx Hebrona (co-team leader), Judith Janiola (deputy team leader), Liza Ohra and Meriel Demasuay (both of Mahintana Foundation), Ronnie Masicampo (PHILEXPORT), Purificacion Ocampo (Dr. Pedro Ocampo Hospital), Noel Senas (LGU General Santos City), Renato Calanao (GSC First Step Learning Center), Dr. Jaime Namocatcat, Remedios Flamiano and Florence Zapico (all of MSU General Santos City).


Group picture at the NTUC Headquarters in Singapore


Judith Janiola, Liza Ohra and Noel Senas taking an important photo shot


Noel Senas riding on the Singapore Flyer--the world's largest observation tower








The team visited NTUC and Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE) headquarters, Johor Tourism Office (Johor Bahru, Malaysia), Health Promotions Board and National University of Singapore (Enterprises Center).

Engr. Zarinah Aligsao MAS Presented Research

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The Integrated Center for Advanced Studies had its initial achievement with the presentation of Engr. Zarinah Aligsao's research entitled, "Review of Demographic Trends and Socio-Economic Characteristics: Developing Framework for Growth Strategy in SOCCSKSARGEN Region" last March 17, 2008 in General Santos City.


No less than, Celedonio Ines, MOS (Provincial Officer, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics), FJ Babate, Ellen Dalagan, MM and Judith Janiola, MPA served as the audience during the presentation.



Her research was made possible through a small research grant programme administered by the Center. The latter is under the oversight of Ms. Judith C. Janiola, MPA.

SOCCSKSARGEN Study Tour and Trade Mission

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We are pleased to invite you to become a delegate to the SOCCSKSARGEN Study Tour and Trade Mission scheduled to convene in Singapore on 26-30 July 2008.

The paramount objective for the mission is to promote and develop trade links aimed to open business and investment opportunities beneficial to both countries, Philippines and Singapore. The delegation plans to meet with Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME), one of the large business organizations in Singapore.

A SOCCSKSARGEN-Singapore Investment Forum with the board of directors & members of the ASME will be conducted. There will also be a one-on-one business matching with ASME members. The mission also includes company visits and a tour to some of the famous tourism landmarks in Singapore.

The cost of participation is pegged at Php 32,000 (inclusive of local and international airfare, 4 days hotel resort accommodation, kit, selected in-city transportation, breakfast) as well as visit to Johor State, Malaysia. To reserve your slot, an initial payment of Php 14,000 will be made on or before May 25th and final payment will be made on June 30th.

For any other information, just contact us at biztour@philstat.org or SMS 09207742628 (Luilus Llera). We welcome your participation, and invite you to learn from and enjoy these exciting events.

We look forward to seeing you in Singapore!


Ismael Salih, MBA and Ronnie Masicampo, MBA
Convenors

PSA and GENSARWAI Foundation Forged Agreement

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The Association and the local group of social workers through the GENSARWAI Foundation have forged a joint partnership to implement the 1st National Conference on Social Planning, Evaluation and Statistics on 3-5 October 2008 in General Santos City.


No less than Hermocilos Batilong, MSW, MAEd representing the Foundation and Ellen Dalagan, MM representing the PSA signed the memorandum of agreement last April 11, 2008.


Highlights of the signed agreement are the following:



  1. PSA shall throughout the duration of this Agreement, and under the terms and conditions herein and as may be further agreed upon:
    Set-up and maintain the conference website
    Owns the proprietary rights of the National Conference on Social Planning, Evaluation and Statistics (NCSPES)
    Provide secretariat support
    Take on the role of conference co-chair

  2. FOUNDATION shall throughout the duration of this Agreement, and under the terms and conditions herein and may be further agreed upon:
    Take on the role of conference chair as represented by its Executive Director
    Coordinate in the programming activities

  3. Both PSA and FOUNDATION will appoint representatives to a working committee for the project. This working committee will prepare project reports on a quarterly basis for submission to management of the two organizations.

Dennis Matutina Attended Jakarta ICT Training

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Our very own active member, Enp. Dennis Fel T. Matutina, MPA was a recent grantee of a training scholarship held recently in Indonesia.

The International Open Source Network (IOSN) ASEAN+3 and InWEntCapacity Building International, Germany in collaboration with TheState Ministry for Research and Technology (RISTEK), Republic of Indonesia have supported both government and non-governmentorganizations (NGOs), IT small-to-medium enterprises/businesses(SMEs/SMBs), developers, experts, trainers and users of Free/OpenSource Software (F/OSS) disaster management information systems this Training of Trainers (ToT) event for FOSS Geographic Information Systems(GIS) with a leading ICT-based NGO, Sahana. This event was held at the PDII-LIPI in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 24 to 28, 2008.


This activity was in response to the great demand and interest for afollow-up training as a result of the successful conduct of an earlier ToT on FOSS GIS for Disaster Management held last October 2007 inPDII-LIPI in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Mr. Matutina is currently the IT Chief of the Office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator and acknowledge as an authority in FOSS GIS in the country.

Certificate in Applied Statistics (CAS) Offering

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The Association through its educational and research arms will start offering a certificate course on June 2008.

The Certificate in Applied Statistics (CAS) is intended to provide comprehensive training in applied statistics and data analysis. It is intended for professionals in diverse fields seeking short-term program to strengthen their statistical skills. This program includes to probability and statistical theory and additional training in either spatial analysis or environmental statistics.

This requires a moderate math background. The course requirements for the certificate in applied statistics are:


1. Introductory probability and statistics (June)

2. Elementary applied statistics (July)
3. Multiple regression/design of experiments (August)

4. Topics course in multivariate, spatial or environmental statistics (September)

The certificate course is primarily offered to PSA SOCCSKSARGEN members however, interested individuals can also enrol wholly or partly in the program. This program is entirely developed and managed by PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. Hopefully, it will evolve into a program consortium of academic institutions, industry partners and PSA in the region.

Details about this project can be coursed through the director of the PSA Mindanao Academy (Ellen M. Dalagan, MM)

Judith Janiola Presented Paper in International Confab

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Judith C. Janiola, MPA who is an active board member of the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. presented a paper during the International Research Conference held in Iloilo City last February 27-29, 2008. Her paper is entitled, "Civil Society and Local Authority Collaboration and Its Effects on the Implementation of Family Planning Programs in General Santos City" and is co-authored with FJ Babate.


This conference was in response of higher education and research institutions to the challenges of globalization through research. This event was also a review of the state of the art of researches in the areas of teacher education; sciences, math and technology; medicine and health; humanities and social sciences; agriculture and allied fields; and media and communication. Current research outputs in these areas by researchers from different institutions or research centers have been shared.


The conference provided a venue for exchange of ideas to foster institutional collaboration and linkages in research.

Ms. Janiola is a population program officer of the Local Government Unit of General Santos City and the director of the Integrated Cented for Advanced Studies, a research and development arm of the PSA SOCCSKSARGEN Inc. Last year, she received a scholarship to attend in an international conference in Hyderabad, India.

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