Tambuling Batangas Publication December 19-25, 2018 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
December 19-25, 2018
NEDA 4A holds dissemination forum
for prov’l economic accounts study
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – The
National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) 4A presented
the study on economic accounts of
provinces in Calabarzon region in a
recently conducted Dissemination
Forum here.
National
Government
Agencies (NGAs) and Private entities
like Meralco convened at the new
NEDA 4A Building in Brgy. Milagrosa,
Calamba City for a dialogue regarding
the result of the research study.

This study seeks to
provide an estimate of the economic
contribution and growth of Cavite,
Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon
and identify economic trends vital
for the planning of provincial
governments in the region.

“For our activity today, let
us fill the desire of the provinces to
have provincial desegregation of Gross
Regional Domestic Product which
is being published by PSA. The idea
there is for the provinces to assess the
performance and contribution of the
provinces where they’ve been using
proxy indicators to compute taking
it into production agriculture, tourist
arrivals, employment,” explained
NEDA 4A Regional Director Luis
Banua.

He said the use of such
indicators are not accurate and are
difficult to use, thus, they tapped
Orient
Integrated
Development
Consultants Inc. (OIDCI) to conduct
a research study on the estimation of
provincial accounts for the provinces
in the region.

Much of the growth in
Calabarzon en bloc, he explained,
comes from the industry and services
sectors being an industrial region,
however, it is hard to identify where
growth emanates in the provincial
level.

“Given such accounts, the
Local Government Units will have a
tool for computing the contribution
and the growth of the provinces and
this will serve for their planning and
other activities,” the Regional Director
said.
C o m p u t a t i o n
methodologies and software used for
Videoke highlights Pinoy Yuletide bonding
FOR most Filipinos, Yuletide
specialty foods like “lechon” (roasted
pig), “halayang ube” (purple yam),
leche flan, “puto” (rice cake” and
“pansit” of various flavors, and
the extremely delightful and sweet
“sapin-sapin” would be incomplete
and rendered tasteless without
“videoke” singing during the coming
Christmas and New Year’s Day
reunions.

In fact, “videoke” singing
and its various forms, have became
one of the typical joyous images
of the Christmas holidays in the
Philippines.

Singing, in its most positive
aspect, is synonymous with happiness
and good will, hence Filipinos can
whole-heartedly relate with this
tradition of passing around the mike
and singing their favorite songs to the
best of their choral capabilities.

Allan
Bergonia,
a
businessman
from
Villasis,
Pangasinan, said Yuletide bondings
are strengthened further by singing as
the annual “videoke” escapade gives
more emphasis to the season.

“May sine-celebrate kasi,
family gatherings, ang mga iba ay (sa)
Yuletide lang nagkikita ang mga mag
Family bonding videoke
kakaibigan and (magkakamag-anak)
(We celebrate something. Family
gatherings. It is only during the
Yuletide season when most families
and friends reunite),” he added.
Meanwhile,
Charlene
Manuel, an entrepreneur based in San
Carlos, Pangasinan, said Filipinos
like to entertain by nature, hence
their very close affinity to singing
especially during the holidays.

“Siguro kasi (Maybe its
because) Filipinos are entertainers
by culture hehe. Part ng tradition sa
isang bahay ng Filipino families ang
videoke kahit anong okasyon lalo na
pag holidays. Nag-evolve na lang
from kahit anong musical instruments
to karaoke to videoke. May love
affair ang Pinoy sa singing (Videoke
is a part of Filipino families’ tradition
during occasions, but most especially
during the holidays. It just evolved
from musical instruments to karaoke
to videoke. Filipinos have a love
affair with videoke),” she added.

“Way-way back pa mga
Filipinos, from humming to lullabies
to chants. Sensitive and emotional
mga Filipinos. Thru singing nilalabas.
Modern times, videokes na ngayon.
Bigay na bigay mag videoke, natural
na lang. Sa sobrang passionate
kumanta, kailangan na ng control
(Way back, Filipinos, have humming
to lullabies to chants. Filipinos are
sensitive and emotional. We release
emotions through singing. In modern
times, it’s videoke. We give our all in
videoke, just being natural. We are so
passionate that sometimes, it needs
control),” Charlene said.
Manuel’s
observation
was also echoed by Aileen Cruz, a
resident from Meycauyan, Bulacan.

To Aileen, Filipinos are
always ready to sing and are just
looking for a handy excuse to do so.
With the coming Yuletide reunions, it
will give them one reason to sing.

“Kasi mahilig kumanta
mga Pinoy tapos sabayan pa ng
season (Yuletide holidays) so yung
spirit ng happiness lalong na uplift,
mas masaya sila tapos ‘videoke’
magkakanta sila, kahit na very
annoying (dahil sa ingay) na minsan
(Filipinos really love to sing and
with this, the spirit of happiness
brought by the holiday season is
uplifted. They are happy and then
they will sing in the videoke, even if
it’s annoying because sometimes, it
becomes noisy),” Cruz stressed.
the estimation were made available
by the OIDCI. NEDA 4A will then
propose to the Central Office to
purchase this software.

The increasing economic
share of provinces other than Laguna,
which has the biggest, means there is
an expansion of growth and no longer
concentrated in one province.
“For the provinces, we have to know
now where growth is coming from and
what sector would be critical so that
your economy will be stable… what
sector should you focus on,” NEDA
4A Assistant Regional Director Gina
Gacusan said.
Through the study, the various sectors
can be observed in its totality. An
analysis can now be done per province
and see the shifts in the economy.
Now it can be determined what is
happening to the province, how the
economy was composed, and which
sector contributes most.
“This will help them (the LGus) in
planning and monitoring, and find
out where the government will put
its resources, (and) how does the
government want to see the economy
grow,” she added.

With this, the Agency asks
for the support of the LGUs to adopt
this initiative and the regional line
agencies to secure the needed data.
Based on the result of the study, the
fastest growing province in Calabarzon
is Quezon, while, Laguna’s growth
slowed down through time relative to
its big growth base.

Laguna, however, accounts
for almost 30% of the entire value
added of the Calabarzon region in contrast to Quezon that has the least
value added.

Dr. Arlene Inocencio of
OIDCI emphasized that with the
available data, we do away with
incorrect perception and become better
guided and more precise in identifying
which province is contributing what
and how much, among others.

We can claim that at the
moment this is the best data we have
available because there is no other
provincial economic account for the
region.

Standard
methodology
internationally accepted and official
statistics were used but this can still be
improved.

“What we are using in this
study is the production approach. We
are adopting the three key sectors
(such as) the agriculture sector, the
industry sector, and then services,” Dr.
Arlene Inocencio of OIDCI explained.

The data used for the
economic accounts were essentially
from the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) and Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR). They have established an
annual growth rate for 2011 to 2016
with this.

Banua clarified that the
study’s terms of reference is limited to
accounting the economic status of the
provinces of Calabarzon.

The
succeeding
stage
of interpreting the result and its
implications will be upon NEDA and
the provincial governments who are
more acquainted with all other factors
affecting the economic trends. (Joy
Gabrido, PIA4A)
Time to create memories

Meanwhile, Terry Ching
Rodriquez from Taytay, Rizal, said
the Filipinos’ penchant for singing is
always there regardless of the coming
Christmas or not.

“Naku kahit hindi holiday
season mahilig talaga mga Pinoy
mag-videoke. Sa mga kapitbahay na
lang namin kabi-kabila mga nagbi-
videoke kapag may birthday. Sa
tingin ko mahilig kasi mga Pinoy sa
musika at gusto lang nilang magsaya
(Even if it is not holiday season,
Filipinos really love videoke. In our
neighborhood alone, there’s videoke
everywhere whenever it is someone’s
birthday. I think it is because Filipinos
are music lovers and they just want to
enjoy),” she added.

Beth Camia Julian, of
Imus, Cavite, believes that “videoke”
singing during the Yuletide reunions
is a good way to store up memories
of togetherness and bonding among
friends and loved ones.

“Nakagawian na nating
mga Filipino tuwing Yuletide season
ang pagbi-‘video(ke’) dahil ito
ang panahon madalas nabubuong
magkakasama-sama ang buong
pamilya nang may pagkakasayahan.
Dito ang pagkakataon na magkaroon
ng good memories kaya bigay na
bigay kanilang pagdiriwang (We
Filipinos have become used to
videoke during the Yuletide season
because this is the time when families
flock together to celebrate. We make
good memories with the festivities),”
she added.

For University of Santo
Tomas masters student Nicole
Manano,
“videoke”
singing
highlights the Filipinos’ capacity for
good humor and positive attitude in
life despite the hardships.

“Likas na masayahin ang
mga Pilipino. Kaya kahit bumagyo
o umaraw, lagi pa ring nakangiti ang
mga Pinoy kahit wala nang bubong ang
bahay at nakukuha pa ring tumawa.
Pag okay ka, kumanta ka; pag malas
ka, kumanta ka; pag wala kang pera,
kumanta ka — at pag may okasyon,
kumanta ka! Kaya todo-bigay ang
mga Pinoy na kumanta dahil dito nila
naipapakita kung bakit nakakaaliw ang Paskong Pinoy. Naipapakita
nila ito sa score sa karaoke! Kaya
nga hindi rin mawawala dyan yung
magkakaibigan at magka-kamaganak
na nagkakantsawan at nag-aasaran
(Filipinos are indeed happy people.
Rain or shine, Filipinos always have
that smile and laughter even if their
roofs are blown away. If you’re fine,
sing. If you’re unlucky, sing. If you
don’t have money, just sing. And
if there’s occasion, sing. Filipinos
are very passionate in singing
because this shows the happiness
of the Filipino way of celebrating
Christmas. They show it through the
scores in karaoke. You’ll see there
friends and relatives teasing one
another),” Manano added.

“Dahil laging nakangiti
ang mga Pilipino, gusto nila na
may babalikan silang memories
kapag wala silang magawa or kung
gusto lang nilang matawa lalo na
kung magto-throwback sila sa
mga pumalpak sa biritan o sa mga
nag-trying hard na singer ‘daw’.
Syempre, hindi mawawala dyan
‘yung mami-miss nila ang mga taong
nakasama nila sa Pasko na bihira lang
nila makita lalo na kung malayong
kaanak ito o kaibigan. Kaya nga the
best ang Paskong Pinoy kasi uso ang
reunion — at the more the merrier,
mas maraming alaala ang masarap
balikan (at mas maraming score ang
pagtatawanan) (Because Filipinos
always have smile in their faces, they
want to have memories which they
can look back into especially when
they want to show throwbacks of
those who didn’t make it to the high
notes or those trying hard to sing. Of
course, they will miss the people who
are with them during Christmas which
they rarely see, especially when these
are living somewhere far. Filipino
Christmas is the best because this is
the season for reunions — the more
merrier, there are more memories to
reminisce),” Manano said.

With these reasons, it seems
apparent that “videoke” singing in
Filipino Yuletide reunions will last
for a long, long time as the Christmas
Season has only highlighted the need
on why we need to be merry during
the occasion.