INTRODUCTION
It has always been the objective of my government to provide a better quality of life for all Filipinos today and in the future.

The provision of improved health services, adequate nutrition, free education, affordable housing for all and social welfare to the needy, are challenges which the government has to face. An important interrelationship that must be considered in this regard is that of population and development.

The completion of the 1995 Census provides another perspective in planning at the national level and perhaps, more important, at the local level. Recent trends can now be evaluated objectively and future directions effectively and efficiently charted.

The report just given by the National Statistics Office brings us the good news that the population growth rate has not surged alarmingly but has in fact slightly declined since the count made in 1990.

In effect, the zero-growth rate in population will yield better results for key economic indicators, like income and food sufficiency on a per capita basis.

In spite of this reassuring report, the message remains that we all must still aim for more effective population management to give our country more time to adjust to future population increases, and to enable our government to deal more adequately with pressing problems of poverty and degradation of the environment.

The World Development Report of the World Bank has said: “slowing population growth is a difficult challenge to humanity — but a challenge that must and can be successfully addressed. The discussion of population places special emphasis on the role of public policy in an area where fundamental human values are at stake… Population is a subject that touches issues central to the human condition and the very definition of economic and social progress.”

We have in fact addressed the population issue while moving the economy forward. The policies on liberalization and deregulation have afforded our people a wider choice of quality goods and services in transport, telecommunications and banking, among others.

Growth areas and corridors are now being developed outside of Metro Manila and other traditional centers, and have provided a great number of our people with new investment, employment and livelihood opportunities. We have also seen heartening indications that we are moving toward greater income equity.

But we need to continue with our efforts to merge the development of the Filipino with a more prudent use of his resources and his environment.

We know only too well that even with the lower rate of growth reported today, Philippine population is still expected to double in less than thirty years, when the children of today shall constitute the adult labor force of the country.
CHALLENGES FOR PLANNERS
The challenge now remains with our planners to identify when and how to intervene in the circle of life to achieve society’s desired outcomes. Local government units can more readily glean from the available data the appropriate means of improving the situation and the life of the people in their communities.

There is need for greater education of women, particularly those in rural areas, to give them informed choices on methods of family limitation and spacing of births. Success in persuading women to postpone childbearing and to space subsequent births redounds in great improvement of maternal and child health.

One fourth of married women in our midst today have an unmet need for family planning — women who are not using any method but want to delay their next birth or want to stop childbearing. Had we satisfied this potential demand for family planning earlier, the population growth would have been lower, according to recent studies. This is a distinct area for action by concerned parties in the government and private sector.

We should also continue to monitor the size and distribution of the population as well as its economic and social determinants. Our statistical agencies must continue to build on their capabilities. They should keep pace with the advances in information technologies which may allow us to have more statistics and indicators of development using the same amount of resources at hand or even less.
AUTOMATION OF CIVIL REGISTRATIONS
Census inquiries in the future may become shorter and supplemental to well-established administrative systems. I am aware that we are conducting public bidding for the automation of the civil registrations system on a build-transfer-operate scheme.

Automation will not only provide the public with a more efficient manner of establishing identification through civil registry documents in government and even private offices, but also allow us to obtain up-to-date statistics on the size and distribution of the population.

I therefore direct the National Statistics Office to facilitate the public bidding with as much transparency permissible under the law.

The system will be operational and productive for as long as all Filipinos are able to register their vital events with the office of the city and municipal civil registrars. At this point, let me remind everyone of Proclamation 326, where I declared as state policy the free registration of births, deaths and marriages. This will enable the civil events affecting the disadvantaged segments of our society to be chronicled in the registers of government.
PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES
Related to this, I direct the Office of the Civil Registrar General (OCRG) to intensify efforts to carry out the civil registration system for Muslim Filipinos under Executive Order 157 and OCRG Administrative Order No. 2 (S-1993) in coordination with the Regional Autonomous Government and the Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA).

This will bring more Muslim Filipinos within the administrative reach of government, as more agencies will help out in the registration of civil events like births and marriages in remote areas of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and in Muslim communities all over the country.

To secure the vital records of all Filipinos and the important computer database on key economic and social aspects of the Philippines and its people, I direct the immediate processing of the joint-venture agreement drawn up by the Public Estates Authority (PEA) for the construction of the National Statistics Office building, given the favorable opinion of the office of the government counsel on the matter.
CLOSING
In closing, let me say that we are happy with the way the census was taken. But saying we have turned in good work does not mean that we cannot do better. More than ever, we have to intensify our efforts to improve the well-being of our people, while taking care to acknowledge and accommodate their humanity.

Let me again offer my thanks and commendations to the dedicated men and women of the National Statistics Office and those who helped them to take on this task and to succeed within the limits of the resources provided them.

Finally, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 849 signed last August 14, I herewith declare official for all purposes the 1995 National Population Census.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Salamat sa inyong lahat.