The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – La Union Provincial Statistical Office continuously carried out its mission to deliver relevant and reliable statistics through the conduct of Data Dissemination on Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), Various PSA Survey Results, and Vital Statistics at J&V Holiday Homes and Resort, Sevilla, City of San Fernando, La Union on July 8, 2022.

Aligned with the PSA External Communication Plan, the Data Dissemination Forum aimed to inform the stakeholders of updates on PhilSys, results of PSA surveys, and vital statistics.   Furthermore, it also aimed to enjoin the support of Local Government Units (LGUs), line agencies, academe, media, and establishments to meet the PhilSys Step 2 target in La Union, to serve as an avenue to address the queries of stakeholders, and to acknowledge the participation of stakeholders in various activities of the office.

The forum was a half-day event which mainly focused on the presentations of survey results conducted by the PSA during the first quarter of 2022. It was participated by representatives from line agencies, LGUs, media, academe, and establishments.  

Mr. Joselito Lavaro, PhilSys Focal Person, provided information on PhilSys updates highlighting the salient features of Republic Act (RA) No. 11055, PhilSys API-Enabled Services, and the Design and Components of the PhilSys.  He also informed that a total of 586,201 Filipinos five years old and over already completed the PhilSys Step 2 Registration in La Union as of June 30, 2022 since its first implementation in first quarter of 2021 while a total of 248,265 PhilID cards were already delivered by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost) as of May 27, 2022 in the province.

Registration Officer II (RO II) Engr. Leny Grace S. Balanon disseminated on vital statistics.  RO II Balanon reported that in 1^st quarter of 2022, there were 2,556 total number of registered live births . Meanwhile, the number of registered marriages in La Union increased by 56.62 percent from 733 marriages in the 1^st quarter of 2021 to 1,148 in the 1^st quarter  of 2022. A total of 1,697 deaths were registered in the province in 1^st quarter of 2022, an increase of 20.53 percent from the 1,408 registered deaths in 1^st quarter of 2021.

Supervising Statistical Specialist (SSS) Malvin A. Quinto presented on the  highlights of the Labor Force Survey results from 2018 to 2021. He informed that from 2018 to 2021, the average annual Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in La Union was 64.20 percent. The lowest LFPR in the province was recorded in 2020 at 62.70 percent, accounting to about 362.60 thousand individuals. On the contrary, the highest LFPR was recorded in 2021 at 65.00 percent. This means that out of the 586.68 thousand working-age population in La Union in 2021, 381.34 thousand people are in the labor force.

Chief Statistical Specialist (CSS) Danites E. Teñido, Ph.D. presented on the summary inflation report  of the province as of June 2022. In her presentation, La Union’s headline inflation rate accelerated to 4.6 percent in June 2022 from 4.2 percent in May 2022. The faster pace in the province’s overall inflation in June 2022 was mainly due to the higher annual increase in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 3.8 percent from 3.3 percent in the previous month.   This was followed by the annual gain in the transport index at 19.5 percent in June 2022 from 17.5 percent in May 2022.   Also contributing to the acceleration in the overall inflation of the province in June 2022 from their previous month’s annual rates were higher annual increments registered in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 5.1 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 1.4 percent; health, 1.8 percent; and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services, 1.6 percent.

Moreover, Statistical Analyst (SA) Karl Josef G. Hufana disseminated on Construction Statistics.  SA Hufana noted the top three city/municipality in terms of new construction projects that included the City of San Fernando with 127 constructions, Naguilian with 75 constructions and Bacnotan with 55 constructions.

SA Edmundo Jose B. Peralta, Fisheries Surveys Focal Person, reported on the Fisheries Situationer  in La Union in 1^st quarter of 2022. In his presentation, La Union’s total volume of fisheries production in 1^st quarter 2022 was recorded at 4,030.44 metric tons, an increase of 4.26 percent from the 3,865.66 metric tons production in 1^st quarter 2021.  Among the fisheries subsectors, municipal fisheries posted the largest contribution to the fisheries output in the province in 1^st quarter 2022 with a share of 2,793.52 metric tons or 69.31 percent of the total fisheries production of the province. Aquaculture ranked second with 1,033.63 metric tons contributing 25.65 percent to the total fisheries production of the province. Commercial fisheries had the smallest contribution to the total volume of production in the province with 203.29 metric tons or 5.04 percent share.

Administrative Aide VI (AA VI) Mariela Casiño reported on the 1^st quarter results of the Palay and Corn Production Survey.   Highlights of her report revealed that the volume of palay production in La Union in 1^st quarter 2022 was 26,635.00 metric tons. This was 5.10 percent higher than the volume of palay production in the province in the same period of 2021 at 25,343.00 metric tons. On the other hand, the volume of corn production increased by 7.10 percent in 1^st quarter 2022 at 25,136.09 metric tons from  23,470.00 metric tons in 1^st quarter 2021.

Lastly, Senior Statistical Specialist (SrSS) Marieta P. Rivera presented on household population data based on the result of 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH).  SrSS reported that as of May 1, 2020, La Union had a total population of 822,352 persons. Of this total, the household population comprised 99.76 percent or 820,343 persons. This is 35.70 thousand higher than the 784,646 household population in 2015, and 79.63 thousand more than the 740,710 household population posted in 2010.

After the presentations, an open forum was facilitated by Statistical Specialist II (SS II) Susan Cora F. Hufana.  The resource speakers readily answered the queries of the stakeholders. 

SGD. DANITES E. TEÑIDO, Ph.D.
Chief Statistical Specialist

MBL