CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--Based on the 2020 Annual Poverty Indicators (APIS), from January to June 2020, Region 10 holds the third spot among the 17 regions, in terms of highest percentage of families with internet or online transactions at 43.5%, with bulk of families having online transactions intended for online buying.

Based on results, online transactions in Region 10 are divided into banking 4.50%, bills payment 6.10%, selling 8.40% and buying 22.60%.

Brenda Lynn Castro, supervising statistical specialist of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-10, in a recent Data Dissemination Forum held over zoom said, “This could be an indicator for our businesses in the region to consider online platform since it can be seen in these results that families the region are buying online for their household needs.”

Meanwhile, the top three household conveniences include cellphone 89.1%, TV 76.7%, and radio 54.1%.

Further, the purpose of surfing the internet is social media at 73.9% while emails, research and work at 63.6%.

“We also see families receiving government social assistance and with these numbers we can check percentages receiving various benefits from government institutions. We can check if these percentages are enough for our goal in eliminating poverty in the region,” she said.

As to social assistance programs under “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” percentage of families who availed/received benefits assistance in the last six months from January to June 2020 include: relief assistance from government 82.7%, social amelioration program 50.6%, relief assistance other than government 18.4%, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 1.5% and Department of Agriculture (DA) rice farmers financial assistance program 0.9%, regular conditional cash transfer (4Ps) 18.8%, Indigent Senior Citizens Social Pension 12.4%, Unconditional Cash Transfer under Tax reform Program at 3.1%, and Modified Conditional Cash Transfer 1.5%.

She said it is worth noting that statistics in Region 10 are good compared to other regions.

Basic literacy for school aged children 10 years and over really improved in 2019 at 98.2% placing northern Mindanao top 2 in basic literacy rate based on the 2019 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS).

This is an improvement in basic literacy from 95.4% in 2013, she said.

Castro said despite the improvement in literacy, there are still some challenges in the region.

A total of 1.2% families in the region with no sanitation facility, 1.6% families in the region with unimproved service level of handwashing, 2% of families with unimproved service level of drinking water and also a percentage of 29.8% school age population who are not in school and 9.8% families with no electricity.

“Although these are low in numbers, but, with our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that is leaving no one behind, and these numbers must be considered, we want our development to be inclusive,” said Castro.

The mandate of the PSA is to provide statistics for our planners and decision makers to consider planning out government programs and projects so that these numbers give vital inputs in the planning process and decision making process, Castro said.

The Data Dissemination Forum held over zoom was among the activities for PSA’s 32nd National Statistics Month in October. (JMOR/PIA-10)