In the Philippines' Central Visayas region, the morbidity rate of animal bites per 100,000 population amounted to around 111.2 in 2021. In contrast, the morbidity rate of fever of unknown origin per 100,000 inhabitants was 3.7.

In 2023, one public health nurse was serving 5,863 people in the Philippines. Across regions, CALABARZON accounted for the highest nurse-to-population ratio at 7,963, followed by the Central Luzon Region (Region 3). In contrast, there were 2,547 people for every nurse in CAR.

Map shows evacuation centres and affected population. Numbers symbolise camps, colours symbolise population at municipality level.White areas show areas of no data. Please be advised that datasets may not be complete.

*Male and female populations estimated on 50% of total population.

Abstract

The Labor Force Survey is a nationwide survey of households conducted regularly to gather data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. It is primarily geared towards the estimation of the levels of employment in the country.

The Labor Force Survey aims to provide a quantitative framework for the preparation of plans and formulation of policies affecting the labor market.

Geographic coverage

National coverage, the sample design has been drawn in such a way that accurate lower level classification would be possible. The 74 provinces, 24 cities and eight key municipalities are covered.

Analysis unit

• Person/ individual

Universe

The survey covered all persons 10 years old and over. Persons who reside in institutions are not covered.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sampling design of the Labor Force Survey adopts that of the Integrated Survey of Households (ISH), which uses a stratified two-stage sampling design. It is prepared by the NEDA Technical Committee on Survey Design and first implemented in 1984. It is the same sampling design used in the ISH modules starting in 1986.

The urban and rural areas of each province are the principal domains of the survey. In addition, the urban and rural areas of cities with a population of 150,000 or more as of 1990 are also made domains of the survey with urban and rural dimensions. These include the four cities and five municipalities of Metro Manila (Manila, Quezon City, Pasay and Caloocan; Valenzuela, Paranaque, Pasig, Marikina and Makati), and other key cities such as Baguio, Angeles, Cabanatuan, Olongapo, Batangas, Lipa, Lucena, San Pablo, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Mandaue, Zamboanga, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, General Santos, and Iligan and key municipalities such as San Fernando, Pampanga and Tarlac, Tarlac.

The rest of Metro Manila, i.e., the remaining municipalities are treated as separate domains. In the case of Makati, six exclusive villages are identified and samples are selected using a different scheme. These villages are Forbes Park, Bel-Air, Dasmarinas, San Lorenzo, Urdaneta and Magallanes.

Because of the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), this, defining its areas of coverage, Marawi City and Cotabato Cfity are likewises treated as domains.

Sampling Units and Sampling Frame The primary sampling units (PSUs) under the sample design are the barangays and the households within each sample barangay comprise the secondary sampling units (SSUs). The frame from which the sample barangays are drawn is obtained from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). Hence, all the approximately 40,000 barangays covered in the 1990 CPH are part of the primary sampling frame. The sampling frame for the SSUs, that is, the households, is prepared by listing all households in each of the selected sample barangays. The listing operation is conducted regularly in the sample barangays to update the secondary sampling frame from where the sample households are selected.

Sample Size and Sampling Fraction The size of the sample is envisioned to meet the demand for fairly adequate statistics at the domain level. Taking this need into account and considering cost constraints as well, the decision reached is for a national sample of about 26,000 households. In general, the sample design results in self-weighting samples within domains, with a uniform sampling fraction of 1:400 for urban and 1:600 for rural areas. However, special areas are assigned different sampling fractions so as to obtain "adequate" samples for each. Special areas refer to the urban and rural areas of a province or large city which are small relative to their counterparts.

Selection of Samples For the purpose of selecting PSUs, the barangay in each domain are arranged by population size (as of the 1990 Census of Population) in descending order and then grouped into strata of approximately equal sizes. Four independent PSUs are drawn with probability proportional to size with complete replacement.

Secondary sampling units are selected systematiclally with a random start.

Sampling deviation

Replacement of non-responding or transferred sample households is allowed although it is still possible to have non-response cases due to critical peace and order situation or inaccessibility of the selected sample households. If there are unenumerated barangays or sample households, non-response adjustments are utilized.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The items of information presented in the July 1991 Quarterly Labor Force Survey questionnaire were derived from a structured questionnaire covering the demographic and economic characteristics of individuals. The demographic characteristics include age, sex, relationship to household head, marital status, and highest grade completed. The economic characteristics include employment status, occupation, industry, nomal working hours, total hours worked, class of worker, etc.

Cleaning operations

Data processing involves two stages: manual processing and machine processing. Manual processing refers to the manual editing and coding of questionnaires. This was done prior to machine processing which entailed code validation, consistency checks as well as tabulation.

Enumeration is a very complex operation and may happen that accomplished questionnaires may have some omissions and implausible or inconsistent entries. Editing is meant to correct these errors.

For purposes of operational convenience, field editing was done. The interviewers were required to review the entries at the end of each interview. Blank items, which were applicable to the respondents, were verified and filled out. Before being transmitted to the regional office, all questionnaires were edited in the field offices.

Coding, the transformation of information from the questionnaire to machine readable form, was likewise done in the field offices.

Machine processing involved all operations that were done with the use of a computer and/or its accessories, that is, from data encoding to tabulation. Coded data are usually in such media as tapes and diskettes. Machine editing is preferred to ensure correctness of encoded information. Except for sample completeness check and verification of geographic identification which are the responsibility of the subject matter division, some imputations and corrections of entries are done mechanically.

Response rate

The response rate for January 1992 LFS was 99.94 percent. The non-response rate of 0.06 percent was due to crticial peace and order situation or inaccessibility of the selected sample or sample households.

Sampling error estimates

Standard Error (SE) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) for the selected variables of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) for July 1991 survey round was computed using the statistical package IMPS. The selected variables referred to include the employment, unemployment and labor force population levels and rates.

A sampling error is usually measured in terms of the standard error for a particular statistic. A standard error is a measure of dispersion of an estimate from the expected value.

The SE can be used to calculate confidence intervals within which the true value for the population can be estimated, while the CV is a measure of relative variability that is commonly used to assess the precision of survey estimates.

The CV is defined as the ratio of the standard error and the estimate. An estimate with CV value of less than 10 percent is considered precise.

MA013b Map shows number of Evacuation Centres per municipality (top figure) and the population within each evacuation centre (lower figure) for Cebu and Bohol. Percentage of population affected is also shown.Note: data may be incomplete due to access difficulties.

Abstract

The 1994 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) is a nationwide survey of households undertaken by the National Statistics Office (NSO). Similar surveys were conducted in 1956-1957, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1975, 1979, 1985 and 1988. Like the previous surveys, this undertaking aims to accomplish the following primary objectives:

1. to gather data on family income and family living expenditures and related information affecting income and expenditure levels and patterns in the Philippines;

2. to determine the sources of income and income distribution, levels of living and spending patterns, and the degree of inequality among families;

3. to provide benchmark information to update weights for the estimation of consumer price index (CPI)

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Household Consumption expenditure item Income by source

Universe

The 1994 FIES has as its target population, all households and members of households nationwide. Institutional population is not within the scope of the survey.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sampling design of the 1994 FIES adopts that of the Integrated Survey of Households (ISH), which uses a stratified two-stage cluster sampling design. It is prepared by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Technical Committee on Survey Design and first implemented in 1984. It is the same sampling design used in the ISH modules starting in 1986.

The urban and rural areas of each province are the principal domains of the survey. In addition, the urban and rural areas of cities with a population of 150,000 or more as of 1990 are also made domains of the survey with rural and urban dimensions. These include the four cities and five municipalities of Metro Manila (Manila, Quezon City, Pasay and Caloocan; Valenzuela, Parañaque, Pasig, Marikina and Makati), and other key cities such as Baguio, Angeles, Cabanatuan, Olongapo, Batangas, Lipa, Lucena, San Pablo, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Mandaue, Zamboanga, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, General Santos, and Iligan and key municipalities such as San Fernando, Pampanga and Tarlac, Tarlac.

Sampling Units and Sampling Frame The primary sampling units (PSUs) under the sample design are the barangays and the households within each sample barangay comprise the secondary sampling units (SSUs).

The frame from which the sample barangays are drawn is obtained from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). Hence, all the approximately 40,000 barangays covered in the 1990 CPH are part of the primary sampling frame.

The sampling frame for the SSUs, that is, the households, is prepared by listing all households in each of the selected sample barangays. The listing operation is conducted regularly in the sample barangays to update the secondary sampling frame from where the sample households are selected.

Sample Size and Sampling Fraction The size of the sample is envisioned to meet the demand for fairly adequate statistics at the domain level. Taking this need into account and considering cost constraints as well, the decision reached is for a national sample of about 26,000 households.

In general, the sample design results in self-weighting samples within domains, with a uniform sampling fraction of 1:400 for urban and 1:600 for rural areas. However, special areas are assigned different sampling fractions so as to obtain "adequate" samples for each. Special areas refer to the urban and rural areas of a province or large city which are small relative to their counterparts.

Selection of Samples For the purpose of selecting PSUs, the barangay in each domain are arranged by population size (as of the 1990 Census of Population) in descending order and then grouped into strata of approximately equal sizes. Four independent PSUs are drawn with probability proportional to size with complete replacement.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire has five main parts consisting of the following: Part I. Identification and Other Information (Geographic Identification, Other Information and Particulars about the Family)

Part II. Expenditures and Other Disbursements Section A. Food, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Section B. Fuel, Light and Water, Transportation and Communication, Household Operations Section C. Personal Care and Effects, Clothing Footwear and Other Wear Section D. Education, Recreation, and Medical Care Section E. Furnishings and Equipment Section F. Taxes Section G. Housing, House Maintenance and Minor Repairs Section H. Miscellaneous Expenditures Section I. Other Disbursements

Part III. Income Section A. Salaries and Wages from Employment Section B. Net Share of Crops, Fruits and Vegetables Produced and/or Livestock and Poultry Raised by Other Households Section C. Other Sources of Income Section D. Other Receipts Section F. Family Sustenance Activities

Part IV. Entrepreneurial Activities Section A1. Crop Farming and Gardening Section A2. Livestock and Poultry Raising Section A3. Fishing Section A4. Forestry and Hunting Section A5. Wholesale and Retail Section A6. Manufacturing Section A7. Community, Social, Recreational and Personal Services Section A8. Transportation, Storage and Communication Services Section A9. Mining and Quarrying Section A10. Construction Section A11. Entrepreneurial Activities Not Elsewhere Classified

Part V: Health - Care Section A. Health - care Expenditures Section B. Health Insurance

Cleaning operations

The 1994 FIES questionnaire contains about 800 data items and a guide for comparing income and expenditures and internal consistency.

Upon submission of the data diskettes containing first and second visit data, a summary file was extracted from the entire file through a computer program.

The questionnaires were further subjected to a rigorous manual and machine edit checks for completeness, arithmetic accuracy, range validity and internal consistency. Items failing any of the edit checks were either corrected automatically by the computer on the basis of pre-determined specifications or, when needed, examined in a clerical error-reconciliation operation.

The electronic data-processing (EDP) system developed by the NSO Data Processing Staff and used in the 1985 and 1988 FIES was generally adopted in processing the 1991 FIES with few modifications. There are thirteen (13) major steps in the machine processing of the 1991 FIES and these are as follows: 1. Data entry and verification 2. Structural editing (minor edit) 3. Edit list verification/correction 4. Update 5. Completeness check 6. Completeness check list verification/correction 7. Identification verification 8. Extraction of summary file for preliminary results 9. Matching of visit records (big edit) 10. Internal consistency checks (big edit) 11. Reject lists verification/correction 12. Update 13. Expansion 14. Tabulation 15. Generation of CPI weight tables 16. Variance analysis

Steps 1 to 8 were performed right after each visit while the remaining steps were carried out upon completion of the data collection for the first and second visits. Steps 1 to 7 were implemented at the regional offices. In addition, except for NCR, Region 3, 6, 7 and the province of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi and Zamboanga City which were handled by the Central Office. Steps 10 and 11 were likewise undertaken in the regional offices. The first passes of reject listings were sent to the regional offices for verification and correction/updates are sent back to the Central Office for data file updating. Meanwhile, steps 8, 9 and all the concluding steps were handles by the Central Office.

For data entry, IMPS (Integrated Microcomputer Processing System) was used.

Response rate

The response rate is the ratio of the total responding households to the total number of eligible households. Eligible households include households who were completely interviewed, refused to be interviewed or were temporarily away or not at home or on vacation during the survey period.

Sampling error estimates

As in all surveys, two types of non-response were encountered in the 1994 FIES: interview non-response and item non-response. Interview non-response refers to a sample household that could not be interviewed. Since the survey requires that the sample households be interviewed in both visits, households that transferred to another dwelling unit, temporarily away, on vacation, not at home, household unit demolished, destroyed by fire/typhoon and refusal to be interviewed in the second visit contributed to the number of interview non-response cases.

Item non-response, or the failure to obtain responses to particular survey items, resulted from factors such as respondents being unaware of the answer to a particular question, unwilling to provide the requested information or ENs' omission of questions during the interview. Deterministic imputation was done to address item nonresponse. This imputation is a process in which proper entry for a particular missing item was deduced from other items of the questionnaire where the non-response item was observed. Notes and remarks indicated in the questionnaire were likewise used as basis for imputation.

Abstract

This research was conducted in Philippines between May and December 2009 as part of the Enterprise Survey initiative.

The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or the universe, covered in the Enterprise Surveys is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the ISIC Revision 3.1 group classification (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this population definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities-sectors.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample for Philippines was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and region.

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into 6 manufacturing industries, 1 services industry -retail -, and two residual sectors. Each manufacturing industry had a target of 160 interviews. The services industry and the two residual sectors had a target of 120 interviews. For the manufacturing industries sample sizes were inflated by about 33% to account for potential non-response cases when requesting sensitive financial data and also because of likely attrition in future surveys that would affect the construction of a panel. An additional 85 interviews were added to the survey half way through the fieldwork. Targets were adjusted such that the manufacturing sectors' targets were increased to 160-180 interviews.

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in four regions: National Capital Region excluding Manila; Manila; Region III; Region IV; and Metro-Cebu (Region VII). These are the largest population and economic centers of the Philippines. National Capital Region and Manila were split because of the large size of the National Capital Region. Metro-Cebu specifically was surveyed, rather than the whole of Region VII, for logistical reasons as this region is widespread and includes many remote and sparsely populated locations.

The sample frame used in the Philippines was obtained from the 2008 National Statistics Office of the Philippines (NSO) Register of Establishments. A key limitation in using this sample frame was the cost of access, which significantly limited the size of sample available for survey limitation. As a result of concerns over confidentiality, NSO also required that sample selection was done by 3 NSO in-house under instruction of the World Bank team in Washington D.C.This database contained the following information: -Name of the firm -Location -Contact details -ISIC code -Number of employees.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 16% (319 out of 2022 establishments). Breaking down by industry, the following numbers of establishments were surveyed: 15 (Food) - 166, 18 (Garments) - 154, 24 (Chemicals) - 162, 25 (Plastic & Rubber) - 163, 26 (Non-metallic mineral products) - 151, 31 & 32 (Electronics) - 164, Other manufacturing - 122, Retail & IT - 117, Other services - 127.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instruments are available: - Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 15-37] - Core Questionnaire + Retail Module [ISIC Rev.3.1: 52] - Core Questionnaire [ISIC Rev.3.1: 45, 50, 51, 55, 60-64, 72] - Screener Questionnaire.

The “Core Questionnaire” is the heart of the Enterprise Survey and contains the survey questions asked of all firms across the world. There are also two other survey instruments - the “Core Questionnaire + Manufacturing Module” and the “Core Questionnaire + Retail Module.” The survey is fielded via three instruments in order to not ask questions that are irrelevant to specific types of firms, e.g. a question that relates to production and nonproduction workers should not be asked of a retail firm. In addition to questions that are asked across countries, all surveys are customized and contain country-specific questions. An example of customization would be including tourism-related questions that are asked in certain countries when tourism is an existing or potential sector of economic growth.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

Complete information regarding the sampling methodology, sample frame, weights, response rates, and implementation can be found in "Description of Philippines Implementation 2009" in "Technical Documents" folder.

Abstract

This survey was conducted in Philippines between November 2014 and May 2016, as part of the Enterprise Survey project, an initiative of the World Bank. The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries. Only registered businesses are surveyed in the Enterprise Survey.

Data from 1,335 establishments was analyzed. Stratified random sampling was used to select the surveyed businesses. The data was collected using face-to-face interviews.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country's business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents' opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.

Geographic coverage

Metro Manila, NCR excluding Manila, Metro Cebu, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The whole population, or universe of the study, is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the group classification of ISIC Revision 3.1: (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities-sectors.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and region.

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into five manufacturing industries and two services industries: Food and Beverages (ISIC Rev. 3.1 code 15), Garments (ISIC code 18), Non-metallic mineral products (ISIC code 26), Fabricated metal products (ISIC code 28), Other Manufacturing (ISIC codes 16,17, 19-25, 27, 29-37), Retail (ISIC code 52) and Other Services (ISIC codes 45, 50, 51, 55, 60-64, and 72).

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees).

Regional stratification for the Philippines ES was done across five regions: Metro Manila, NCR excluding Manila, Metro Cebu, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon.

The sample frame consisted of listings of firms from two sources: First, for panel firms the list of 1326 firms from the Philippines 2009 ES was used. Second, for fresh firms (i.e., firms not covered in 2009), economic census data from Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) was used.

The quality of the frame was enhanced by the verification process conducted by OIJ Business Partners. However, the sample frame was not immune from the typical problems found in establishment surveys: positive rates of non-eligibility, repetition, non-existent units, etc.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 3.7% (135 out of 3,649 establishments).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The structure of the data base reflects the fact that two different versions of the survey instrument were used for all registered establishments. Questionnaires have common questions (core module) and respectfully additional manufacturing- and services-specific questions. The eligible manufacturing industries have been surveyed using the Manufacturing questionnaire (includes the core module, plus manufacturing specific questions). Retail firms have been interviewed using the Services questionnaire (includes the core module plus retail specific questions) and the residual eligible services have been covered using the Services questionnaire (includes the core module). Each variation of the questionnaire is identified by the index variable, a0.

Cleaning operations

Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.

Response rate

Survey non-response must be differentiated from item non-response. The former refers to refusals to participate in the survey altogether whereas the latter refers to the refusals to answer some specific questions. Enterprise Surveys suffer from both problems and different strategies were used to address these issues.

Item non-response was addressed by two strategies: a- For sensitive questions that may generate negative reactions from the respondent, such as corruption or tax evasion, enumerators were instructed to collect "Refusal to respond" (-8) as a different option from "Don't know" (-9). b- Establishments with incomplete information were re-contacted in order to complete this information, whenever necessary.

Survey non-response was addressed by maximizing efforts to contact establishments that were initially selected for interview. Attempts were made to contact the establishment for interview at different times/days of the week before a replacement establishment (with similar strata characteristics) was suggested for interview. Survey non-response did occur but substitutions were made in order to potentially achieve strata-specific goals.

The number of interviews per contacted establishments was 0.36. This number is the result of two factors: explicit refusals to participate in the survey, as reflected by the rate of rejection (which includes rejections of the screener and the main survey) and the quality of the sample frame, as represented by the presence of ineligible units. The number of rejections per contact was 0.34.

Tourist arrivals to the Philippines slowly picked up after significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. From roughly 1.48 million tourists in 2020, international visitor numbers rose to around 5.44 million in 2024. Despite the increase, this number remains much lower than the pre-pandemic level. State of inbound tourism in the Philippines  The tourism industry has shown significant improvements in the past three years, with flights returning to normal and tourists reviving their travel interests. Although domestic travelers continue to outnumber inbound ones, the number of international tourists in the Philippines has seen gradual growth recently. In 2023, tourism receipts also slightly surpassed the 2019 values. On average, international tourists in the Philippines stayed for about 11 nights in November 2023, spending less than 8,000 Philippine pesos daily. In 20234, more than a quarter of tourists arriving in the country came from South Korea, followed by those traveling from the United States and Japan. Airlines for international tourists  In 2023, most international passengers who traveled to the Philippines were carried by Philippine Airlines (PAL), which is the country’s flagship airline. The majority of visitors entered the country via Manila, followed by Cebu. Aside from PAL, international tourists also traveled through Cebu Pacific, which is a low-cost airline that offers both domestic and international flights.

For the 2022 national elections, the most vote-rich province in the Philippines was Cebu, with around 3.29 million registered voters. This was followed by Cavite and Pangasinan with 2.3 million and 2.1 million registered voters, respectively.

In 2023, Quezon was the wealthiest city in the Philippines, with approximately 449 billion Philippine pesos worth of assets. Following by a large margin was Makati City. In that year, the province of Cebu was the wealthiest province in the country.

South Korea was the biggest market for international tourists arriving in the Philippines in 2024, with about 1.6 million travelers. Tourists from the United States came in second, reaching roughly 950,000. Post-pandemic tourism recovery The number of tourist arrivals significantly shows signs of recovery in 2024, at about six million, after the disruptions caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. During the pandemic, foreign tourist arrivals dropped to merely 1.5 million people from more than eight million in the previous year. Surprisingly, this figure was even lower in 2021, which was just 0.16 million tourists. The state of domestic travel While foreign tourist arrivals struggled during the pandemic, domestic tourism in the Philippines experienced fewer setbacks. In 2023 alone, about 48 million overnight travelers were recorded, the majority of whom were domestic travelers. Cebu Pacific carried the highest number of domestic passengers in 2023, with PAL Express carrying just about half of the former's passenger volume.

The love of meat products by local consumers in the Philippines saw a rise in meat consumption, most specifically for pork meat. By 2023, it was forecasted that pork would be the most consumed type of meat in the Philippines at approximately 15 kilograms per person.

Understanding the meat industry

The leading meat products consumed in the country are chicken and pork based. In 2022, the pork consumption per capita in the Philippines was about 1.53 million tons per person, while 1.74 million tons of poultry meat per capita were consumed per person.

Despite the growing market for the meat industry, a critical virus strain outbreak should be considered by businesses venturing into the meat industry. For hog raisers, swine flu can be a threat to pork production, and salmonella bacteria for chicken meat producers. Compliance with the provisions on food safety is vital. As such, those in the meat shop business must stick to the regulations of the meat inspection code of the Philippines.

Pricing

In situations where animal feeds are in a shortage due to adverse weather conditions, or rising fuel prices halt the deliveries of meat, ripple effects are manifested mainly in pricing. This has been reflected in the gradual increase in the domestic retail price of lean pork meat from hog livestock, which amounted to approximately 312 Philippine pesos per kilogram in 2022.