The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the law that created it will be put to the test once it takes over the collection of information on rice stocks, according to a senior research fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids).
Under the rice trade liberalization (RTL) law, the conduct of the Commercial Rice Stocks Survey (CSS) will be turned over by the National Food Authority (NFA) to the PSA by July 2020.
Pids Senior Research Fellow Roehlano M. Briones told the BusinessMirror this will test the resolve of the PSA to apply the provisions of the law, which allows the agency to initiate legal action against those who will not disclose correct information to the government.
“The question here is how are they [PIDS] going to secure the cooperation of the commercial [warehouses] because before, [the NFA is a] regulator. So of course they will respond, otherwise they won’t get a permit, or they will be closed,” said Briones.
“The PSA has the power of compulsion because of its charter. It can initiate legal action if you don’t want to disclose [information]. Although I have never heard it happen before,” he added.
Nonetheless, Briones said the PSA has procedures for these kinds of surveys. One of the surveys being conducted by the PSA is the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI), which collects income and expense information from businesses.
However, the information regarding the specifics of these businesses, such as the names of the companies, cannot be disclosed and may not even be used in court.
National Statistician Dennis S. Mapa told the BusinessMirror over the weekend that the PSA is ready to conduct the CSS by July 2020.
Mapa said the PSA’s Sectoral Statistics and Statistical Methodology Units are already preparing the procedures for conducting the survey.
“[Our team is] preparing a sampling design to capture the data for the commercial stock. The PSA is ready to do this in 2020,” Mapa said.
“Our timetable here is the second semester of 2020.”
Based on the RTL law, the CSS will be conducted by the NFA until the end of 2019. It will be jointly conducted by the NFA and PSA until it is fully turned over to the PSA in July next year.
Rule 29 of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of RA 10625, or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, orders respondents in surveys to provide “truthful and complete answers” to PSA and other statistical offices of the Philippine Statistical System (PSS).
It also provides that the PSA should not divulge “the name, address and telephone numbers; the business and products that they are engaged in; and the specific ranges of number of employees.”
Under Rule 30 of the IRR, individuals who violate Rule 29 face one-year imprisonment and a fine of P100,000. Companies that will violate the IRR will be fined anywhere from P100,000 to P500,000.
Any person caught divulging confidential information from the PSA will be fined P5,000 to P10,000 and face jail time of three to 12 months. Further, failure to complete with survey clearance provision will also be fined P50,000 to P100,000, depending on the gravity of noncompliance.