COTABATO CITY, Aug. 10 (PNA) — More than 3,100 service contractors have been deployed by the Philippine Statistics Authority in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PSA-ARMM) to conduct the 2015 Census of Population (PopCen) in the region.
Enumerations and census have started today and will end on September 6, according to Hji. Abdulkareem Suod Barodi, PSA-ARMM interim regional director.
Barodin explained the importance of census to policy makers and “to all of us.”
“It provides government planners, policy and decision makers with updated population counts on which to base their social and economic development plans, policies and programs,” Barodi said.
The contracted personnel are composed of 2,402 enumerators, 604 team supervisors and 139 census area supervisors or a total of 3,145. The listing and enumeration for PopCen 2015 started Monday, August 10.
The census was in pursuat to Republic Act No. 10625, or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013. The PSA = known in the past as National Statistics Office – is the lead agency tasked to take an inventory of the population in the Philippines.
ARMM has 3.2 million registered inhabitants based on the last census done in 2010. The region is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.
PopCen 2015 is a complete enumeration of households in the country and is designed to take an inventory of the population of the entire country.
It also collects information about basic characteristics of the population such as age, sex, marital status, religious affiliation, highest grade/year completed and usual occupation, among others.
It will also gather selected housing data such as type of building and construction materials used, especially roofs and walls, as well as barangay characteristics like presence of selected facilities and informal settlers.
Barodin explained that the data and information gathered in the census will be the local government units’ official basis when preparing and filing ordinances.
To ensure the success of the census of population, Barodi urged the public to support and cooperate in the population survey by supplying complete and correct information.
Section 27 of RA 10625 cited that “respondents of primary data collection activities such as censuses and sample surveys are obliged to give truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries. The gathering, consolidation, and analysis of such data shall likewise be done in the most truthful and credible manner.”
Barodi explained that failure to provide truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries, the residents will be penalized with a fine of P100,000 and one year imprisonment.
The population count by province, city, municipality, and barangay will be submitted to the Office of the President for proclamation as official census counts in January 2016. (PNA)