PSAI welcomes its new President (2026-2027)

Undersecretary Lisa Grace S. Bersales serves as Executive Director of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) and concurrently as Undersecretary for Population and Development, following her oath of office on 13 January 2023, administered by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan at the National Economic and Development Authority head office (now called the Department of Economy, Planning and Development). Her appointment is anchored on her long-standing role as a statistics development partner of both the public and private sectors.

With close to four decades of academic service at the University of the Philippines, she has built extensive expertise as a researcher and professor, having also served as dean and director of the School of Statistics’ Graduate Studies program. As the country’s first National Statistician, she led the implementation of the Philippine Statistics Act of 2013, including the establishment of the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2014, the realization of the Public-Private Partnership for the Civil Registration System Information Technology Project Phase 2 in 2016, and the chairing of the Philippine Identification System working group that contributed to the Philippine Identification System Act of 2018 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

On the international stage, she was co-chair of the United Nations Statistical Commission’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals indicators from 2015 to 2017, which crafted the global SDG indicator framework. She has likewise authored and co-authored numerous publications on demography and economic growth.

For the period 2026–2027, Undersecretary Bersales will again head the Philippine Statistical Association, Inc. (PSAI), marking her second term after first serving as its president in 2018–2019.