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If there is a national activity that deserves the
participation and support of every Filipino, that would be the
national census.
Actually, the participation of
the head of family or a responsible adult in the household would
suffice for the 2005 census of population that started yesterday
across the country.
The National Statistics Office
shall cover all residents, Filipinos and foreigners, who have stayed
or expect to stay in the country for at least a year, by province,
city, town and barangay. Overseas workers shall be counted.
To ensure comprehensiveness, the
census shall cover institutional populations such as those living in
hospitals, sanitariums, military camps, convents and seminaries.
Condominiums and exclusive villages shall also be enumerated using a
self-administered questionnaire.
Census enumerators carrying pink
umbrellas and wearing ID cards trimmed with pink lace will interview
every household. They will gather information on the number of
people in the house, their age, sex, marital status, education and
other demographic, economic and social indicators.
Should you worry that the
interviewer may reveal family secrets or personal information? The
law says that any and all information obtained during the census,
including the identities of the interviewees, are confidential. Only
the statistics will be released.
The information gathered and
organized helps in the formulation of development plans, policies
and programs at the national and local levels, in the government and
the private sectors. They are useful for national planning bodies
like the NEDA or local think tanks like the one at the city hall.
The information has many uses. It
serves, for example, as a basis for internal revenue allotment of
local governments, apportionment of congressional seats, and the
creation of new towns or new congressional districts
Big and medium industries and
businesses use the information as a basis for expansion, relocation,
estimating consumer demand for goods and services or determining the
size of the labor supply.
National and international
programs that serve the national interest—such as foreign
relations, legislation, the administration of justice, national and
local elections, defense and national security—are strengthened by
the numbers furnished by the census.
The new census has raised
concerns again on the issue of population policy. The 2000 census
revealed that there were 76.5 million in the Philippines. Using this
as baseline, the NSO has projected the current population at 88.7
million on a projected population growth rate of 2.36 percent.
NSO Director Carmelita Ericta
said the government should aim for a two percent or lower growth
rate after the head of the NSO household statistics department
described the current population growth as “explosive and
unacceptable.” This is debatable.
The census is considered an
important human activity since the biblical times. The most famous
census took place more than two thousand years ago when Joseph and
Mary set out from Nazareth to register in his hometown of Bethlehem
in compliance with an order by Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was
governor of Syria.
Not an imperial decree but a law
mandates the new census. We need not go out of the house to be
enumerated, but wait we must for the enumerator who will brave rain,
floods, the neighborhood toughies and dogs to interview us for a few
minutes to help establish a national snapshot that tells us who we
are, how big we are, where we reside, how we live, and where we are
going.
We’re counting on them
AFTER ordering the merciful
release of minors from the national prisons and local jails,
President Arroyo has ordered Interior Secretary Rony Puno to expand
and improve jails in Metro Manila.
Does she mean it? Will or can
Secretary Puno carry out her order?
City, municipal and provincial
jails are a national embarrassment. They treat prisoners almost like
animals. If there are facilities that our government would rather
not be visited by foreigners, including the delegates to the Asean
meetings, that would be your local jail.
Our jails are notorious for
overcrowding, fetid air, unsafe water, dirty toilets and violence.
In many prisons, inmates have to take turns sleeping.
Most were built decades ago to
house small prison populations. The Quezon City jail was built for
800 but houses 3,400. The Caloocan City jail takes in more prisoners
than it was built for.
The United Nations, the European
Union and the Commission on Human Rights have taken note of
conditions at the prisons and have described them as deplorable.
The President should talk to
Speaker Jose de Venecia whose House can increase the money for the
food allowance (P30 a day) of inmates or for the improvement of
jails. There is not much the DILG or the Department of Justice
(which administers the national prison) can do without the money.
But it’s noteworthy that
President Arroyo has cast an eye on our prisons. She should back
that up by actively lobbying the House or sharing her special funds
with prison administrations.
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