ILOILO CITY — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Western Visayas is calling on the support of household respondents as it now gears up for the 2018 Family Income Expenditure Survey (FIES).
“This is a nationwide survey held every three years. The result of the Family Income Expenditure Survey will be the basis in estimating the poverty incidence,” PSA Regional Director Fred Sollesta said in an interview Monday.
The result will also be used to gather information on the disparities in the income of Filipino families and spending patterns; provide benchmark information to update the weights used in the estimation of Consumer Price Index (CPI); and provide inputs in the estimation of the country’s poverty threshold and incidence.
A total of 11,520 households in Western Visayas have been identified as respondents of the survey, considered as the “mother of all surveys”.
Sollesta added that they have increased their sample households to “have reliable estimates at the provincial level.” Before, the design was only for national and regional estimates.
He urged respondents to cooperate and provide accurate data in response to queries of field interviewers.
“This is very important. We bank on the cooperation of our respondents. This will reflect on how effective the poverty alleviation projects of the government are,” he said.
He added that the survey “cuts across all government agencies as far as their role on poverty alleviation is concerned”.
The FIES is composed of about 70-page questionnaire, and the interview might last four hours. Questions may be relative depending on the status of the household respondent. Those who belong to the well-off families may have to answer lengthy questionnaire, he said.
The enumeration will be conducted twice — first in July with January to June 2018 as the reference period and in January 2019 for the July to December 2018 as reference period.
The result of the 2018 FIES will be available in 2019, he said.
A task force training will be held June 18 to 23 while the training for field interviewers will be on the first week of July. (Perla Lena/PNA)
