Intervention by the Philippines on “Consideration of the draft Asia-Pacific indicator framework for monitoring progress towards the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and of the commitments contained in the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Population and Development (APMD)”

Philippine Intervention on Agenda Item 3: Consideration of the draft Asia-Pacific indicator framework for monitoring progress towards the implementation of the Programme of Action (PoA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and of the commitments contained in the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Population and Development (APMD)

ESCAP Committee on Social Development, Sixth Session (Virtual Meeting)

Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH

Executive Director, Commission on Population and Development

 Madame Chair,

Recognizing the need to advance further the goals and objectives of the ICPD Programme of Action as a critical component of the 2030 Agenda, the Philippines endorses and supports the adoption and wide use of the Asia-Pacific indicator framework for monitoring progress towards the implementation of the Programme of Action and the commitments contained in the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Population and Development.  We affirm the relevance and importance of these indicators to guide initiatives in pursuing the ICPD agenda within the context of inclusive sustainable development.

Madame Chair,

 To ensure the alignment of our indicator system with the regional indicator framework, we just updated the Results Matrices (RMs) of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP), which are substantially anchored on the SDG indicators.

More importantly, to ensure that these indicator frameworks are used efficiently and can effectively inform evidence-based planning and policymaking, we continue to enhance our statistical and database systems.  Currently, we are conducting our Census on Population and Housing to ensure updated demographic and socioeconomic data by early 2021.  To improve decision-making processes at the local level, we enacted the Community-Based Monitoring System Act which mandates all local government units to establish the CBMS or local database evidence-based development planning, program implementation and impact monitoring.

Our Government is committed to strengthen the capacity, foremost of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and other national government agencies and academic institutions in generating, analyzing and disseminating reliable and disaggregated population data.  Greater investments are made for the conduct of various periodical surveys such as the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), the Labor Force Survey (LFS) and the National Migration Survey (NMS).

We continue to improve our administrative data collection such as the Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS) of the Department of Health (DOH), Civil Registration and Vital Statistic (CRVS), and other administrative database and information system at all levels.  We also have the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), which is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are nationwide, and currently the system used for the selection of qualified household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Madame Chairperson,

 The Philippine Government is committed to champion the Asia-Pacific indicator framework.  We all recognize the impact of the pandemic that we are now facing, not only on the health and economic condition of our people, but also on their sexual and reproductive health and their ability to access much needed information and services in this regard.  Recent international and local studies have shown the serious impact of this pandemic on population processes and outcomes across vulnerable countries including the Philippines.  Without united and coordinated actions among various countries, this pandemic will definitely erode or reverse the gains that the Programme of Action has achieved over the long years of implementation.

Guided by this indicator framework, we will strive to protect the gains and advance the ICPD goals and objectives in the country. With a resilient economy, we shall continue to mobilize national and local institutions to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services despite the restrictions imposed by community quarantines.

Thank you.