CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA-7) is almost done with the Census of Population and Community-Based Monitoring System (POPCEN-CBMS) with over 90 percent completion rate.
Majority of the cities and municipalities in Central Visayas have already completed with the POPCEN-CBMS including the provinces of Bohol, Siquijor, and Negros Oriental, said Wilma Perante, officer-in-charge of PSA-7 and concurrent regional director of PSA Eastern Visayas.
The completion rate of these three provinces is 100 percent, said Perante during the inflation dissemination forum last week.
READ:
PSA: 2024 population census kicks off on July 15
PSA: More Filipinos seek extra work despite lower jobless rate
PSA working on updated list of ‘census of population’ this year
However, in Cebu, there are still aspects of the Popcen that remain ongoing, specifically in the highly urbanized cities and component cities.
Perante said that there were still ongoing verification of housing units and buildings identified in their geo-tagging location through maps.
As of March 4, Cebu Province’s completion rate is around 90 percent including the HUCs. Cebu City is 93 percent complete, Mandaue City is 91 percent, Lapu-Lapu City is 100, said Perante.
“We’re on the process of reviewing the maps that we used and then sa maps na nandon sa tablets ng aming mga (on the maps that are there in the tablets of our) enumerators. We are on the identification of those buildings that we haven’t visited,” Perante said.
“Yun po yung ating ginagawa right now for those areas na mayroon kaming nakita na pag in-overlay natin yung ating mapa when what we had in 2020, ito yung mga buildings na suspect namin na ito ay na-miss ng ating mga enumerators when they visited,” she added.
(That is what we are doing right now for those areas that we see something that if we overlay them in the map of what we had in 2020, this are the buildings that we suspected that our enumerators missed when they visited.)
As for those residing in high-rise buildings (condominiums), Perante said that enumerators would ask for the demographic information from those who managed the buildings.
Target date to finish verification
PSA-7 was targeting to finish the verification date by the end of the first quarter, Perante said, since they had to complete the data processing this year.
“Under the RA 10625 (Philippine Statistical Act of 2013), compulsory po ang (the) reporting ng (of) population, so demographic characteristics,” Perante said.
“For the CBMS, this is voluntary but of course, we ask the help and support of the public at saka yung (and also the) officials at (and) local government units na tulungan kami (to help us) to ensure yung (the) complete coverage ng CBMS,” she added.
Previously, PSA-7 Chief Statistical Specialist Felixberto Sato Jr. said that Popcen was a complete count of households and institutional living quarters in the Philippines that aimed to inventory the total population, accurately.
Importance of CBMS
Meanwhile, Perante said that CBMS would likewise be important since it would serve as “the main source registry” of the “vulnerable population” such as the senior citizens, low-income families, and beneficiaries of government programs under the Department of Social Welfare and Services and the Department of Labor and Employment.
The census kicked off last July 15, 2024.
In February 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mandated this year’s census to update the beneficiary lists for social protection and government programs, succeeding the census that was last conducted in 2020.