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No,
we’re not asking the citizenry to take sides on a highly
controversial or sensitive issue, such as, for instance,
the antiterrorism law or extrajudicial killings.
Instead,
we’re asking everyone to, well, literally stand up and
be counted by the National Statistics Office as it
begins the 2007 Census on the Population this August.
Census
of population is the complete count of all residents,
both Filipinos, including overseas workers, and
foreigners who have stayed or are expected to stay for
at least a year.
The
census, which was supposed to be conducted in 2005 but
was put on the backburner due to lack of funding, will
take 40,000 NSO-trained census takers and 7,800 team
supervisors to cover nearly 42,000 barangays in the
Philippines.
The
census takers, who will be wearing official 2007 Census
of Population IDs and T-shirts, will visit and interview
every household and ask basic information about the
number of people living within the house, including
their ages, sex, marital status, education and other
demographic, social and economic characteristics. The
interview will take about 15 to 30 minutes. The
nationwide survey will last about 25 days and the
results will be made available by end of February next
year. The government will spend P1.6 billion for the
survey.
And
please don’t forget that, under Section 3 of
Commonwealth Act 591, those who refuse to give
information or provide false information to census
takers are punishable by law with a fine of not more
than P600 or imprisonment for not more than three months
or both.
The 2007
census will only be the 12th survey since 1903. This is
an average of one census every decade. The United
Nations, however, suggests a national census every five
years.
The last
census, the 2000 Census of the Population, revealed that
there are 76.5 million Filipinos. Based on this figure,
the NSO estimates the current population of the country
at 88.7 million, at a projected population growth rate
of 2.36 percent.
The 2007
Census on Population should yield current data that can
be the basis of sound development planning and the
formulation of the appropriate policies and programs by
national agencies, including the National Economic and
Development Authority.
It
should also assist the government in rationalizing
agricultural production and in meeting the labor
requirements of commerce and industry. Besides these, it
could help the government at various levels in targeting
beneficiaries of basic social services, such as
education, health and mass housing.
An
accurate population count is also important in the
political sphere. It forms the basis for the Internal
Revenue Allotment (IRA), the creation of local
government units or conversion of some of the existing
LGUs to a higher level pursuant to the provisions of the
1991 Local Government Code. It also helps determine the
number of congressional seats in a province, city or
municipality.
Legislation, diplomacy, electoral processes, and defense
and national security also benefit tremendously from a
meticulously conducted census.
In the
end, what a census shows is the government’s intention
to promote the public good.
Some
quarters, however, would probably raise privacy
concerns, and the need to protect sensitive individual
information. While the census provides a useful way of
obtaining statistical information about a population,
the information can sometimes lead to abuses, political
or otherwise, made possible by the linking of
individuals’ identities to anonymous census data.
Another
big issue is the current population growth rate. Socorro
Abejo, officer-in-charge of the Household Statistics
Department of the NSO, says: “The Philippines has what
you can call right now an exploding population. Ideally,
a country’s growth rate should be based on the capacity
of the government to provide for the basic needs of the
people. Our current growth rate is not acceptable,” she
said.
We have
to wait for the actual results of the 2007 census to
find out whether the observation about our population
explosion is accurate or not, and whether government has
to take firm measures to control population growth. In
the meantime, we should give the census takers all the
help and information they need for an accurate and
reliable count. |
