CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–In line with its commitment to bring its statistical products and services closer to its clients and stakeholders, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) launched the Data Enclave Center in its 14 Regional Statistical Services Offices (RSSOs).
The launching and simultaneous ribbon-cutting ceremony across the 14 RSSOs was conducted virtually via Zoom teleconferencing, July 14.
A data enclave is a highly secured and specialized facility through which confidential data, such as identifiable information and firm-level data from censuses and surveys, can be stored and disseminated.
At present, PSA disseminates its data through its website and social media platforms, while microdata and metadata for selected surveys and censuses are shared through the PSA data archive and OpenSTAT.
PSA already launched the data enclave in its Central Office and three pilot regions—the National Capitol Region, Region 5, and Region 12—in December 2022. With the simultaneous launch in 14 regions, the country now has a total of 18 data enclave centers.
The National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, Claire Dennis Mapa, said the opening of data enclaves fosters research, collaboration, and innovation across regions.
“The establishment of the Data Enclave Center in the Central Office and extending it to the 17 regional offices is one of the strategies for building a more collaborative environment with our partners and intensifying our dissemination and usage of statistics,” he said.
Different stakeholders across the 14 regions, including the academe and media sectors, joined the virtual launch and were guided through the process of accessing confidential firm-based data sets under a secured network environment.
PSA-10 Officer-in-Charge Janith Aves and chief statistical specialist Sarah Balagbis inaugurated the data enclave center in northern Mindanao.
Among the data sets available in the enclaves are the Annual Survey of Establishments, the Census of Philippine Business and Industry, the Survey on Information and Communication Technology, the Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment, and other reference materials to aid researchers.
PSA assured that appropriate measures were in place to secure the data, such as physical security, isolation from the internet and external networks, restricted access, authentication, downloading, and encryption protocols, as well as regular security audits and monitoring. (APB/PIA-10)
