CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro, Sept. 1 (PIA) -- The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Mimaropa region conducted this morning a virtual press conference for the launching of 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH).

The original schedule of the conduct of survey was supposed to start last May 4, but the actual CPH survey was moved to September 1 due to COVID-19 pandemic and other factors affecting enumerating procedures.

In her opening remarks, PSA Mimaropa Chief Statistical Specialist Maribel Bernardo emphasized that this endeavour aims to collect, compile, analyse, publish and disseminate data about population and housing in the country which would serve as valid data in various planning activities of the government and other private entities for economic development of the country.

"We have now 3,556 enumerators in the entire region and our point of reference for the conduct of survey of housing and population covers data from May 1, 2020," Bernardo said.

The 2020 CPH has been the 15th Census of Population and 7th Housing Survey in the country since 1903. It is based on Republic Act No. 10625, otherwise known as the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013 and Batas Pambansa Blg. 72 or an Act providing for the taking of an integrated census every 10 years beginning in the year 1980, and for other purposes.

In a recent press statement issued by PSA Mimaropa Regional Director Leni Rioflorido, she stated that health guidelines being implemented by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) are strictly followed by their enumerators this time of pandemic. The safety measures taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission are observed in the following procedures by enumerators: Provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face mask, face shield, alcohol, and other sanitary materials; Social distancing; and Close coordination with the local government units (LGUs) on the safety of hired personnel during training, enumeration and supervision.

According to Rioflorido, PSA devised several ways for the people to participate in the said census as a means to adapt to the various current circumstances such as face-to-face interview, computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), self-administered questionnaire (SAQ), over-the-phone interview or paper-assisted telephone interview (PATI), and computer-assisted web interview.

Rioflorido clarified in the virtual presser that enumerators need to personally go to houses and meet the people concerned to get their numbers so that facilitation of telephone interview would be easily done by enumerators and the concerned households based on their agreed schedule of time for call.

Rioflorido further said that part of the digital transformation of data collection is the use of CAPI where the province of Marinduque was chosen as one of the pilot areas to use the CAPI instead of the traditional paper and pen interview (PAPI). She said the CAPI is another means of data collection where the enumerator inputs the responses on the tablet and uploads to the server of the PSA Central Office. Marinduque was selected as one of the pilot areas due to its less number of population as well as its small land area compared to other provinces in the Philippines.

Moreover, the census of operation is expected to extend until October 2020 or beyond in the Mimaropa region due to reports of delay in the conduct of trainings, especially in the municipalities with records of COVID-19 positive cases. PSA reported that the latest timetable for the official and final count of the population is expected to be released on March 31, 2021.

In this census of population and housing, PSA Mimaropa is encouraging everybody to participate in this undertaking as it would help economic planners in creating projects that will impact communities for the next five years. (LTC/PIA-OrMin)