N.B. – This was published in Asian Correspondent (June 14, 8:00 p.m.) where I write a column (Philippine Fantasy).

That President-elect Benigno Aquino III finds “some economic data” unbelievable is not at all surprising. While his critical stance is attributed mainly to his being part of the opposition, many Filipinos share his perception though for a different reason: Official statistics are able to hide the reality simply because that they are hard to understand.

In other words, such disbelief is rooted not only in the outgoing administration’s lack of credibility but also the manner in which government facts and figures are being presented to the people.

Allow me to cite a few examples:

1. Government argues that unemployment is only pegged at 7.3 percent as of January 2010. This simply means that 92.7 percent of Filipinos are employed. However, the Technical Notes on the Labor Force Survey shows a questionable definition of “employed.” For those who are at work, employed persons are “(t)hose who do any work even for one hour during the reference period (i.e., for a period of seven days) for pay or profit, or work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by blood, marriage or adoption.” On the other hand, for those with a job but not at work, employed persons refer to “(t)hose who have a job or business but are not at work because of temporary illness/injury, vacation or other reasons. Likewise, persons who expect to report for work or to start operation of a farm or business enterprise within two weeks from the date of the enumerator’s visit are considered employed.” (emphasis mine) With this definition, it is no surprise that the number of employed people becomes bigger.
2. Official poverty statistics as of 2006 show that only 26.9 percent of Filipino families are poor. This obviously means that almost three-fourths of Filipino families are not poor. However, government press releases fail to mention that this figure is based on the assumption that a person only needs PhP15,057 (US$323.06) to meet food and non-food requirements for one year. In other words, as far as the government is concerned, a person can survive with only PhP41.25 (US$0.88) per day. Given the questionable annual per capita poverty threshold, the estimates of poverty become much lower. (To be fair, the National Statistical Coordination Board made it clear that “a family of five needed PhP6,274 monthly income in 2006, an increase of more than 22% from 2003.” The figure is based on the equation [15,057 x 5] / 12. Notice that the presentation of the figure in thousand pesos somehow hides the questionable assumption of the government that a person can survive with only PhP41.25 in his or her pocket in one day.)
3. As I wrote in the previous post, the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) monthly inflation report fails to provide a computation of purchasing power of the peso which is crucial to understanding the real value of one’s money based on price fluctuations through the years.
4. Even if the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) provides updated statistics on minimum wages nationwide, it does not have updates on family living wage which is important in comparing one’s minimum wage to the amount that can provide for a family’s food and non-food needs. In fact, a visit to the NWPC’s website shows that the page on family living wage remains “under construction.” (IBON Foundation, an independent research think-tank, provides a popularized illustration of family living wage as of 2008 compared to the minimum wage in the National Capital Region.)

Clearly, President-elect Aquino should ensure that government statistics will be based on sound assumptions and that these should be made known to the people so that they could better understand official facts and figures. The popularization of basic socioeconomic indicators like purchasing power, wages and poverty should also be done, no matter how bleak the figures may be. An administration that claims to be transparent and accountable to the people is expected, after all, to do nothing less.