PRESS RELEASE June 26th, 2018
DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS REGARDING THE APPROVAL OF P. C. 1403 BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PUERTO RICO

We are waiting to hear the results of the conference committees so that we can know what will be approved. However, we take the liberty of making some statements in general terms about our feelings.

We are struck by the lack of legislation to advance the transparency agenda in this session. Added to that is the possible approval of P. de la C. 1403 with which, far from promoting greater transparency, the Legislative Assembly would seem to take several steps backwards on that important agenda.

In recent days, we have seen how municipal governments, on their own, have begun to take steps towards greater transparency in the way they manage public funds. It leaves deafening silence the months and years that the central government has ignored the possibility of participating free of charge in the same Puerto Rico Financial Transparency System, which municipal governments are now beginning to adopt.

In the same way, even though there is a virtual global scientific consensus in favor of allowing the Institute of Statistics to continue to carry out its functions independently, the Government also seems to ignore it.

On this occasion, not only in Puerto Rico but in the world, they are observing the steps taken by the Legislative Assembly in the coming days with respect to P. de la C. 1403. With the recent experience of the incomplete count of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria, the Government's commitment to transparency will once again be called into question with the approval of P. de la C. 1403.

It's important for me to stress that:

1. This issue has nothing to do with this server but with the defense of the institution's independence. If the Governor were available for dialogue and to desist from his intention to amend the Institute's Organic Law, this servant would leave the Executive Directorate of the Institute immediately.
2. The Institute has 2 administrative jobs. There is no way to achieve savings by merging administrative aspects, when the Institute maintains such a small administrative workforce.
3. There is no political partisanship in the Institute. For years, the Board of Directors with members of different ideologies have been able to work together, just like the professionals they are. This year, for reasons beyond our control, an attempt was made for the first time to introduce partisan politics into the Institute, but so far the Institute has successfully rejected this attempt.
4. In these 10 years, the Institute has achieved significant improvements in Puerto Rico's statistics, despite the obstacles presented by the government apparatus and partisan politics. The reorganization of the Institute will take us back to the last century, and there will be little that the federal government can do to remedy the situation.
5. Thousands of people, 47 world-renowned scientific organizations, 16 congressmen, the Private Sector Coalition, the Transparency Network, the National Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society and the Fiscal Oversight Board, among many others, have recommended that the Institute be maintained as an autonomous entity of the Government of Puerto Rico and independent, free from political intervention.

The approval of P. de la C. 1403 is a serious mistake. The Legislative Assembly should not participate in eliminating what it once created to protect the same legislators from being manipulated with erroneous or incomplete information that the Executive Branch controls to ensure that the measures that the current Government wishes are approved. Legislators have the floor.

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Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes (787) 688-0401

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Statements by the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, on the report of the Congressional Task Force

Statistics Institute announces opening of registration period for on-line workshops and Webinars

Free of charge starting September 6, 2022 and includes five different workshops and two Webinars for the development of skills

August 23, 2022 - The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) began the enrollment period, for the first semester, of the workshops on-line and Webinars for the new fiscal year 2023, whose purpose is to promote and provide theoretical and practical bases on issues related to statistics.

The offer, which starts on September 6, 2022, is free of cost and consists of five different workshops and two Webinars for the development of skills in managing different interfaces and programs for understanding, extracting, organizing, analyzing and presenting data. Some of these workshops are related to the management of the Census interface for accessing data and microdata (PUMS) of the Community Survey, the use of the QGIS program for spatial analysis and presentation of census data, the use of the RStudio tool for statistical analysis and Tableau Public as a tool for presenting data. The offer of workshops is mainly aimed at the development of government officials.

As for the offer of Webinars, these are open to the general public and are aimed at publicizing some of the Institute's programs and projects, such as the Cost of Living Index and the Puerto Rico Violent Death Surveillance System.

Dr. Francisco Pesante, coordinator of the Institute's academies and workshops program, said that “the Institute of Statistics has integrated the use of educational technologies on-line since 2015. In view of all the challenges presented to us by the coronavirus health emergency, we must recognize the advances in the adoption by the general population and public servants of electronic communication, meeting and education platforms on-line as part of the new normal. This allows us to overcome the barrier of time and geographical distance to offer a series of workshops and Webinars of benefit to promote the development of skills in the management of statistical resources”.

Those interested in the workshops and Webinars available can access the Academies and Sizes Program through https://bit.ly/iepr-talleres-webinar-2022-2 or write to the coordinator of the academies and workshops, Dr. Francisco Pesante, at francisco.pesante@estadisticas.pr.

Pre-enrollment must be carried out using the online enrollment system available at Academy. After the applicant completes the pre-enrollment form, the Institute will notify them by email if they were officially accepted and enrolled.

About the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: https://estadisticas.pr.gov/. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics).

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28, 787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27, 787-562-2932

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