With PSA officially an agency, tech-savvy NSCB head resigns

Jose Ramon Albert has resigned as director general of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) after the government consolidated all its statistics units, including the NSCB, into a single body. According to the NSCB, which is now part of the newly formed Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Albert’s resignation took effect on Feb. 9. Albert was appointed in September last year following the retirement of Romulo Virola in July. Albert announced that he would work as a senior research fellow for the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), a state-owned think tank. "I leave the office with a sense of accomplishment, having significantly reached out to all our stakeholders and partners through improved coordination, and having implemented better communication schemes within the office,” Albert said in a statement. During his term, Albert introduced blogs–"Beyond the Numbers” and "StatFocus”–that appeared on the NSCB’s website. Through the blogs, Albert would explain the meaning and relevance of the statistical reports being published by the NSCB and other government entities. Described as a tech-savvy executive, Albert pioneered the release of NSCB reports through social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Albert handed over his resignation after Malacañang signed into law a bill that consolidated all statistical agencies of government–the NSCB, the National Statistics Office, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, and the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics–into one entity, the PSA. The PSA operates as an attached agency of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). The administration consolidated the agencies so that the the data would be managed more efficiently. It also hoped to streamline the gathering of data and speed up the release of reports to the public. The government is still in the process of looking for a person to head the PSA. Carmelita Ericta, NSO chief, has been appointed interim national statistician or temporary head of the PSA.