PSA-7 urges public to use E-questionnaires

CEBU, Philippines- With the start of the 2015 Population Census yesterday, the Philippine Statistics Office-7 urges the public who do not have time to personally answer queries from their enumerators to make use of the agency’s website so that they will be counted.

Noel Rafols, PSA-7 information officer, said those who will answer the questionnaires in their website, www.psa.gov.ph, should answer accurately.

“Hangyo lang sad mi nga they should answer the questions truthfully and accurately. The census on population is a serious matter as our policymakers would depend their policies based on population,” Rafols said.

He said that once the online questionnaire will be answered, they will print it and forward it to the enumerator assigned in the specific area where the one who answered it lives.  In Central Visayas, there are around 8,000 enumerators.

The conduct of the 2015 POPCEN, which is designed primarily to take an inventory of the population of the entire country, will end on September 6.

PSA, formerly the National Statistics Office, has reiterated its call for everyone to support and cooperate with the POPCEN 2015.

Earlier, Rafols said it is a big challenge for them to have all Filipinos counted, especially those living in condominiums and high-end subdivisons, who usually do not allow enumerators inside their area.

Rafols said that they have already coordinated with the barangays and homeowner associations to inform their constituents on the ongoing surveys.

He added that it would only take 15 to 20 minutes for an enumerator to finish the interview provided that the household owner or member is cooperative enough.

Also, their enumerators will be wearing official POPCEN 2015 IDs, official shirt, a cap and an umbrella, said Rafols, so the residents can clearly identify the legitimacy of the survey.

PSA projects a population of 102 million for this year against the 100 million population in 2014.

In Central Visayas last year, the region had a population of 6.7 million and is expected to increase to 7 million this year. Cebu, in 2014, had a four million population and is expected to increase by a million this year.

The POPCEN 2015 aims to provide government executives, policy and decision makers and planners with population data, especially updated population counts of all barangays in the country, on which to base their social and economic development plans, policies and programs.

POPCEN data are used for redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats, allocation of resources and revenues, identification of sites for establishing businesses, improvement of supply of labor for the production of goods and services, conduct of researches on population and relates disciplines, among others.  (FREEMAN)