MANILA, Philippines — A former dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Statistics has been appointed as the new national statistician and head of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced yesterday that Dr. Dennis Mapa, will be succeeding former national statistician Dr. Lisa Grace Bersales, whose term ended last April 22.
Among other projects, Mapa will be taking over and spearheading are the implementation and development of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Program, a landmark reform of the Duterte administration.
Mapa, who has extensively worked with government on population, economic growth, and poverty statistics research, was nominated by a special search process committee chaired by the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI) executive director, and composed of select officials from the NEDA, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman School of Statistics, and the UP Los Baños Institute of Statistics.
Prior to his appointment, Mapa was statistics professor and dean at the UP School of Statistics for four years.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from UP Diliman and two Master’s degrees—in Statistics and Economics—from the same university, where he also finished his Doctorate degree in Economics.
He also served as vice president and executive director of the UP Statistical Center Research Foundation, Inc., and is a member of the PSRTI Governing Board.
Mapa was sworn in by President Duterte on May 27, at Malacañang Palace, and officially started work at the PSA Tuesday. He will serve as national statistician for five years.