Progress Report of Philippines

---The Philippines Experience in Updating the List of Establishments

Estela T. de Guzman

Status and Update on Progress of Listing of Establishments

1.The Updating of the List of Establishments (ULE) is a regular activity of the Philippines National Statistics Office (PNSO). It is undertaken primarily to provide an updated and reliable register of establishments which serves as the sampling frame for the censuses and surveys of establishments. The ULE involves (1) capturing “new” establishments and listing their characteristics (2) updating the status and characteristics of “old” establishments and (3) de-listing of “closed” establishments that should no longer part of the List of Establishments (LE).

2.Nationwide field listing of establishments was undertaken in preparation for a Census of Establishments. The Philippines constructed its first List of Establishments in 1961. Other rounds of nationwide listing were undertaken in 1967, 1975, 1978, 1988, 1995, 1999 and the ongoing 2004 ULE. The 2004 ULE consists of complete enumeration of all operating establishments in urban barangays of provincial capitals, cities and first class municipalities, growth areas such as economic zones and IT parks, and areas where economic activities are concentrated.

3.During intercensal years, the LE is being updated by using the lists from government agencies, such as the Department of Labor and Employment, Central Bank of the Philippines and the Securities and Exchange Commission. These are supplemented by the directory of business associations, list of exporters and importers and other umbrella organizations and list from business permits of local government units. The status, as well as the characteristics of the establishments not found in the LE is verified through mail inquiry. Other major sources of updates are the reports of sample establishments from the Census of Establishments, Annual, Quarterly and Monthly Establishment Surveys.

Issues/Problems and Action Taken

4.Although field update is the most reliable method, the high cost of updating the LE through actual visit to establishments inhibits the PNSO to undertake it regularly. To address the problem of maintaining a reliable LE at a lower cost, the Decentralized Registry of Establishments System as an alternative method was developed. The system has been pilot tested in three municipalities and the results are promising.

5.The present LE does not conform to the Magna Carta for Small and Medium Enterprises (RA 6977 amended by RA 8289), which stipulates that establishments shall be classified into micro, small, medium and large establishments, according to its total assets. At present, the establishment is classified according to its average employment size. The 2004 ULE addressed this concern by adding a new item, total assets, among the variables to be listed.

Future Plans

6.The Philippines NSO plans to undertake the following activities towards the improvement of the quality of the List of Establishments: expansion of the adoption of the Decentralized Registry of Establishments System to other local government units, continuous updating of the LE through mail inquiry, complete enumeration of establishments to cover other growth areas and Use of Global Positioning System to produce high quality barangay maps showing exact location of buildings with establishments.