The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) conducted the 2020 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI)/ 2020 Survey of Tourism Establishments in the Philippines (STEP) Second Level Training last 8 - 12 March 2021 at a venue outside the office in Cebu City. The clustered virtual training is participated in by the focal persons of the Visayas Regions.

The Central Visayas participants includes, RD Engr. Ariel E. Florendo with CSS Leopoldo P. Alfanta, Jr., CSS Firmo C. Diputado of Cebu, and SuSS Felixberto Sato, Jr. with some of the staff from the Statistical Operations and Coordination Division (SOCD), namely, SSII Leslie Zuasula, SSII Cayylord Niala, SA Jean Villacensio, and COSW John Lorenz P. Ygoña, and the Cebu Provincial Focal Person Vernie Minguito and Asst. Provincial Focal Person Walter Buaya. The participants from Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor were attending virtually.

ASPBI is conducted annually and is one of the designated statistical activities of PSA. It generates essential statistics for economic planning and analysis and is specifically designed to collect and generate information on the levels, structure performance, and trends of economic activities of the formal sector of the country’s economy. 

The main trainers are the focal persons of each region, and they are assigned with different topics or chapters to discuss. Central Office personnel are also present during the training. Some of the topics that were highlighted were the challenges encountered by every region reported by their respective Statistical Researchers during the distribution / collection and data processing, and how they can improve and address these challenges moving forward. The rider survey for this year is the conduct of 2020 STEP (Survey of Tourism Establishment of the Philippines) which aims to conduct survey on major tourism industries namely Accommodation, Food and Beverages Service Activities, Transport Operators Tour and Travel agencies, Health and Wellness and other tourism activities and how they implemented safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Third level training at the provinces was held on the following week. For Cebu Province, it was done on 23-27 March 2021. On 23rd of March, SSII Cayylord D. Niala conducted Pre-Test at DPC Cebu, for the hired Statistical Researchers to assess their knowledge of the 2020 ASPBI and familiarity of the terms and concept during the third level training. After the 5-day training. SSII Cayylord D. Niala also conducted a Post-Test with the same interchanged sequence of questions which aims to identify how much they have learned during this 5 day training and also to acknowledge those who have improved based on the scores they got from the pre-test and post-test. Also, SRs who have re-applied for the survey and who were able to finish the collection of questionnaires before the deadline, were asked to give advice and strategies on how to effectively handle their task and how they can inspire others to follow and learn as well. As a token for the job well done, they were given Certificate of Recognition signed by our Region Director Ariel E. Florendo , CSS Leopoldo P. Alfanta, Jr of SOCD and CSS Firmo C. Diputado of Cebu.