I CAN’T quite understand the news items drawn from the so-called National Statistics Office (NSO) data about the nation’s unemployment situation.

For instance, the Manila Times on December 17 reported that, “Unemployment up at 6.8 percent in October.” The Philippine Star issue of the same date quoted the NSO, which said, “Jobless Filipinos are now fewer,” in an article bylined by Mayen Jaymalin, who wrote that, “Despite the prevailing economic crisis, jobless Filipinos are now fewer.”

The NSO said yesterday, as reported in a prominent daily, that the number of unemployed Filipinos in October dropped by 5.9 percent compared with the same period a year ago. It also said the number of unemployed persons in 2008 was 2.5 million, or 160,000 less than the previous year.

And yet, as reported in the Manila Times, the unemployed Filipinos rose slightly in October 2008 to 6.8 percent.

My question is, which of these reports, coming supposedly from the same government office, tell us the truth? Or does it mean that the NSO people are just confused enough to confuse the readers?

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According to the US government, the Philippines must first pass the indicator criteria on corruption before the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), a US government-supported agency, will sign a compact program.

To me, this is hypocrisy. The Americans simply want to embarrass us and indirectly help to drumbeat what disgruntled opposition figures and other critics’ efforts to embarrass this administration.

But, really, is the US government itself clean insofar as corruption is concerned? Is it not a fact that the disastrous financial meltdown in the US was caused by greed and corruption in Wall Street and the incompetence or gross inexcusable negligence in the US Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies?

What is significant is the fact that the collapse of the US financial system took place when US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was chairman, and Paulson is, in fact, vice chairman of the MCC. What was happening in Chicago when the governor very close to President-elect Obama was looking for the highest bidder for Obama’s vacated seat? Was this not corruption?

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Almost unnoticed so far, which may result into something more serious, is the reported takeover of the House session hall by farmers-demonstrators who are lobbying for the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as reported in a leading daily on December 17.

I hope that when this column comes out, the occupying farmers shall have vacated the House session hall, because I fear that this action of the farmers who are supported and inspired by some bishops might become the sprouting seeds of something similar to what happened in Bangkok, where no less than the office of the Prime Minister was occupied by the ralliers.

In my previous column I precisely warned about the actions of bishops Deogracias Yñiguez and Antonio Tobias, who were reported to be urging Filipinos to imitate the Bangkok incident which was tantamount to inciting people to anarchy. Let us hope that Bishops Yñiguez and Tobias will fully realize that they were playing with fire when they urged people to resort to violent demonstrations replicating the Thailand incident.

At any rate, the takeover of the House session hall by demonstrating farmers should test the mettle of the House leadership of Speaker Prospero Nograles on how he handles the situation and get rid of the demonstrators from inside the heart of this very important branch of government.

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The much-ballyhooed ecumenical rally against Charter change (Cha-cha) in Makati on December 12 was a complete flop, even with the much-publicized angry display by a presumptive presidential wannabe, Sen. Mar Roxas II.

A leading newspaper announced that there were 7,000 participants, who included some school children ordered by school officials to attend. Obviously, students coming from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila must have been influenced into attending by their school president, who was seen actively haranguing the crowd. Seven thousand ralliers from among 90 million Filipinos despite the massive publicity by highly biased media is in my book—a flop.

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By the way, I received several text messages saying the farmers who are pushing for CARP extension have no one else to blame but themselves and the critics, who include members of the disgruntled Black and White Movement, plus the handful of congressmen who wasted the time of Congress by filing those impeachment cases against the President.

Why? Because by their actions, they imposed upon the precious time of Congress, which could have been spent for debate and legislation on the subject of CARP, instead of the tedious process of resolving the issues raised in the impeachment complaint. Were it not for the impeachment cases filed, the House could not have wasted so much time and focus could have been given to the issue of CARP.

But we are now in the period of advent when all men of goodwill should observe the spirit of Christ’s nativity. We, therefore, welcome the announcement of the unilateral cease-fire from the Armed Forces and hope that our people, including the noisy opposition, can go back to sanity and in unison say: “Peace on earth to men of goodwill.”

Cassandra’s Dream move This column wishes every Filipino a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year! God bless and mabuhay!

3 Responses to “Peace on earth”

• 1
  O Plameras
  December 25th, 2008 14:09

  I checked NSO data here – http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/lf0804tx.html.

  It’s the reporting which is confusing. For example, in Manila Times report I would have said “Unemployment up at 6.8 percent in October 2008 compared to 6.3 percent in October last year.” instead of “Unemployment up at 6.8 percent.” only.

  The report attributed to NSO by Philippine Star as you reported can’t be found in the NSO report at all. So, I can’t comment on the Philippine Star reporting. I can’t find the report on the Internet either.

  I will make a few general comments though on these numbers.
  1. Unemployment rate is a relative number based on number of people 15 years and over willing and able to work.

  People not able or willing to work are excluded from this base. The percentage of people able and willing to work over the total 15 years+ is participation rate. Participation rate is the pool of workers expressed as percentage. Please note that not all 15+ population are included.

  2. People who are actually working including those on holidays, and on sick leave are counted as employed. Those able and willing to work but have no work are counted as unemployed.

  3. The percentage employment rate is calculated as people working divided by people working plus not working.

  4. NSO also measures underemployment rate. The employed are classed as under-employed or not, based on whether they want additional hours at work.

  The point here is that when reporting unemployment/employment rates it is advisable to include a bit of perspective to the numbers. The numbers are somewhat technical and less intuitive.

  Another point is that it is better to just analyse the numbers as percentages and not absolute numbers as was done by the other Papers you’ve cited. It becomes dicy and confusing when one stretches the numbers, translate employed and unemployed to absolute numbers, and make comparisons unless a complete perspective is also provided.
• 2
  Dr. Antonio Gestosani
  December 25th, 2008 22:25

  I feel your pain, Mr. Secretary. But the truth of the matter is, the Philippines made the notorious headline as one of the most corrupt country in Asia. Yes, no country is free of corruption. The only difference is that here in the States, corruption gets the news, gets investigated and eventually prosecuted. We had Congressman here in Ohio who is serving jail sentence for corruption. We had Attorney General here in Ohio who was forced to resign because of scandal and abused of power. And in Chicago, the Governor was arrested and facing indictment for corruption. Only in the Philippines where corruption gets the nod and a slap from the behind. What a country. MERRRY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE TO ALL.
• 3
  Sumakwell
  December 27th, 2008 04:18

  Echo journalism is perilous and full of traps. Over reliance on the truthfulness and professionalism of the original writer, by design or ignorance, is something that must be tested and proven before the message is echoed. This is especially true with messages delivered through the Internet because messages travel and may be echoed in a flash. As I know it, more harm than good arises with mis-informed or mis-represented messages. Checking messages from at least two independent sources including the original source is definitely in order.

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