The “new normal” in census-taking -  enumerator wearing complete uniform will go house-to-house to interview responsible respondent wearing face mask and face shield and practice physical distancing, rain or shine… near or far…no one will be left behind.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) -La Union Provincial Statistical Office (LUPSO) started the conduct of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH) on September 1, 2020 in La Union with adherence to minimum health standards and in close coordination with the Local Government Units (LGUs) to ensure safety of all involved personnel.

The 2020 CPH was originally scheduled in May 2020 and was deferred in September 2020 since most part of the country have been placed under different types of community quarantine to contain the spread of Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19).

A total of 878 hired census field personnel composed of 704 Enumerators (ENs), 141 Team Supervisors (TS), and 33 Census Area Supervisors (CAS) together with eight PSA regular personnel who will serve as Head CAS were prepared in this major undertaking with a five to six days training for enumeration and supervision respectively. 

For easy identification in the barangay, all census personnel will wear the 2020 CPH uniform and 2020 CPH ID. The face-to-face interview will take about 15 to 30 minutes. 

Census enumerators, assigned to the municipality where they reside, will closely coordinate with LGU officials and will not proceed to enumerate in lockdown areas or areas with cases of COVID-19 until there is clearance from the LGU officials.  Hence, there is a chance that the census operations will slide in the following month depending on the COVID-19 situation of the province.

If any responsible respondent in the household is not comfortable with a face-to-face interview, other options in conducting the census are:  accomplishment of Self-Administered Questionnaire (SAQ) which will be later on collected by the enumerator;Paper-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (PATI);and accomplishment of the 2020 CPH questionnaire via Computer Assisted Web-Based Interviewing (CAWI).

The 2020 CPH is the 15^th census of population and 7^th census of housing undertaken in the country since the first census in 1903. It will gather information on selected demographic, socio-economic, and housing characteristics. It aims to provide government executives, policy and decision makers, and planners with updated population and housing data as bases to their social and economicdevelopment plans, policies, and programs.

The reference date and time for the 2020 CPH is as of May 1, 2020 at 12:01 A.M., the same reference date and time used ten years ago. 

The authority for the conduct of the 2020 CPH emanates primarily from Republic Act (RA) No. 10625, Batas Pambansa (BP) Blg. 72, and Executive Order No. 352.  RA 10625 states that the PSA shall be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of administrative recording system, and compilation of national accounts.  BP Blg. 72 further accorded the PSA the authority to conduct population censuses every ten years beginning in 1980 and stipulates that public school teachers shall be employed for enumeration work.  However, due to the delayed opening of classes due to COVID-19 pandemic, hired enumerators are tasked to conduct enumeration. 

EO No. 352, “Designation of Statistical Activities that will General Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and Private Sector,” stipulates the conduct of census every ten years primarily to update the population count in all barangays nationwide. 

As of May 1, 2010, the total population of La Union was recorded at 741,906 persons and as of August 1, 2015, the province posted a total population of 786, 653 persons.

The PSA enjoins everyone to support the 2020 CPH by providing truthful and complete information to the enumerators.  Respondents are assured that all information that will be collected will be treated strictly confidential.  Section 26 of Republic Act 10625 stipulates that individual data furnished by the respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses of the PSA shall be considered as privileged information and such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.  The PSA may release data gathered from surveys and censuses only in the form of summaries or statistical tables, in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall appear. Likewise, RA 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012) states that personal information shall be held strictly confidential and shall be used only under declared purpose.  The provisions on data privacy are not applicable to processing of personal information gathered for the purpose of investigations in relation to any criminal, administrative or tax liabilities of a data subject.  ###

DANITES E. TEÑIDO, Ph.D.

Chief Statistical Specialist