December 19, 2025

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National Statistician Dennis Mapa (center) with TEMPEST project team members and PSA leadership.

The TEMPEST project team met with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)—the country’s national statistics agency—for a lunch discussion.

PSA is a key part of the project, and an essential source of data for our research. The meeting was an opportunity to share progress, discuss next steps, and strengthen collaboration with PSA.

Fenella Carpena presented TEMPEST to National Statistician (NS) Dennis Mapa and his team—highlighting the project’s empirical framework and ways in which PSA data are supporting the analysis. NS Mapa provided helpful feedback on the project’s activities, and offered practical guidance on moving the research forward. 

We greatly appreciate PSA’s engagement and constructive input. The discussion reinforced the value of close coordination, as we work toward research outputs that are both rigorous and policy relevant.

We kindly thank NS Mapa and his team for their time and insights. We are also grateful to Director Benjie Navarro and his team at the PSA’s International Cooperation Unit, for organizing the meeting and facilitating the partnership.