The University of the Philippines Visayas was declared as this year's Best National Statistics Month (NSM) Agency in Western Visayas during the 33rd National Statistics Month Closing and Awarding Ceremony last October 27, 2022, at the RDC Conference Hall, NEDA VI Office, Fort San Pedro, Iloilo City.
Among the 57 participating agencies and institutions, UPV was named the winner for its significant contributions through various information dissemination activities during the region's month-long celebration of National Statistics Month, with the theme "Boosting the Country's Recovery with Informed Decisions, Better Policies."
During the month of October, the UPV Statistical Society (UPV StatSoc), the course organization of the UPV BS in Statistics program, organized a variety of school-based activities that contributed to this success.
One was the "Is STAT Fair? Games for Significant Pearsons," which was a series of four statistics-related fair games in partnership with various university-wide organizations, and the "Alumni Talks II: Unbiased First Moments" in which alumni of UPV's BS in Statistics program shared their experiences with statistics.
Meanwhile, the UPV Statistical Society also chaired two regional contests for the 33rd NSM in collaboration with the PSA-VI, which were the E-Poster Making Contest and the Statistiktok Contest for Junior and Senior High School Students.
Last October 26, the same organization collaborated with NEDA and PSAI-VI to conduct the Western Visayas Junior High School Regional Statistics Quiz, one of the longest-running annual NSM activities.
The UPV Statistical Society Executive Committee and members headed by Arjay Villasante, President of the organization, served as facilitators of the said event. Prof. Leah Araneta, NSM Coordinator of UPV; Dr. Jhoanne Marsh Gatpatan, UPV StatSoc Co-Adviser and PSAI-VI Chair; and Prof. Daniel David Pamplona, UPV StatSoc Adviser, were consultants. Furthermore, Prof. Vicente Balinas, a Statistics Faculty of UPV, was one of the judges and a consultant for the activity.
On the other hand, UPV also sent contestants for the Statistical Essay Writing Contest spearheaded by CHED Regional Office 6 and PSA-VI last October 17.
As a reward for being the "Best NSM Agency" of Western Visayas, the University of the Philippines Visayas received a trophy, a certificate of recognition, a Php 2,000 Commemorative Bill from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and Php 8,000 cash.
During the closing ceremony, Ms. Marlene Alviar, overall NSM secretary of PSA-RSSO VI, enumerated the following criteria that determined the winner of the "Best NSM Agency:"
(1) diversity of statistical activities undertaken in their in-house activities;
(2) the extent of the agency/institution's involvement in NSM activities regional and nationwide;
(3) volunteerism in taking responsibility for various activities; and
(4) generosity in sharing resources and expertise.
The National Statistics Month is an annual celebration held every October per Presidential Proclamation No. 647 to promote, enhance, and instill nationwide awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics to various sectors of society, as well as elicit cooperation and support of the general public in improving the quality and standards of statistics.