Philippine Statistics Authority: "Sama Na, Census Na!"

THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) through Executive Order No. 352 and Republic Act No. 10625 will kick off the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) in September this year. All households and institutional populations will be enumerated to count all members and determine their respective demographics and socioeconomic characteristics. The PSA will undertake the entire process of enumerating the population of the Philippines by going through collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing, publishing, and disseminating data through the 2020 CPH.

This entire process consists of listing by batch some characteristics of each individuals and households at a certain time and area which will be conducted by the PSA rempresentatives. Some data to be gathered are sex, age, marital status, education, religion, ethnicity, disability, occupation, and records of birth and death. Information on main sources of water, electricity, fuel resources, housing units, garbage disposal, toilet facility, ICT devices, vehicles, and internet access will also be collected.

More than 100,000 enumerators and Census supervisors will conduct the house-to-house data gathering all over our country. Census interview will last for only 15 to 30 minutes per household.

No less than the Popstar Royalty Sarah Geronimo-guidicelli is leading the call for the public to participate in the 2020 CPH. Her 60-second infomercial was recently launched through a virtual press conference attended by Minette Esquivias, Officer-in-charge, Censuses and Technical Coordination Office, Florante Varona, Officer-in-charge, National Censuses Service and Joseph Cajita, Chief Statistical Specialist, Population and Housing Statistics. Watch the infomercial via: https://youtu. BE/5VKY7ZT0FF8.

Also launched in the same press conference were the CPH Dance Video and Music Video shot (pre-pandemic) in Legazpi City (representing Luzon), Cebu City (representing Visayas) and Davao City (representing Mindanao), indicating that the upcoming 2020 CPH will be conducted nationwide. Ms. Flor Varona composed this jingle. All of the band members are from the different offices of the Philippine Statistics Authority. The dancers are from the Central office (NCR), as well as from the Regional Field Offices.

The 2020 CPH aims to provide the government executives and policy makers the updated data on population and housing that could be used as bases for their social and economic development plans, policies, projects and programs. The results of the census will also be used to develop key strategies for population management. This will also be beneficial to businesses, industries and non-profit organizations, including research and academic institutions.

The 2020 CPH will be the 15th Census of Population and 7th Census of Housing. PSA assures the public that all responses to the 2020 CPH are confidential, as provided by Section 26 or Republic Act No. 10625 and Section 8 of Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. No data or tabulation may be produced to identify any household nor any individual.

Responding to CPH is mandatory, as stipulated in Section 25 of RA 10625 or Philippine Statistical Act. Therefore, answering all the questions in this official census is obligatory. A lot of preparations have already been made for this undertaking. One of these is the training of more than 100,000 enumerators who will be following safety precautions against the Covid-19 pandemic, like the wearing of face-masks, physical distancing and adhering to the health protocols of the government.

Every Filipino citizen is urged to participate in the 2020 Census of Population and Housing by providing truthful answers to the census questions. Everyone's cooperation will be of great help to the development of the country today.