Over 6,000 enumerators or data collectors are conducting the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) in the Ilocos Region since September 1.

In a forum hosted by the Philippine Information Agency Pangasinan bureau on Tuesday, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Ilocos regional director Sheila de Guzman said of the total number of enumerators, 3,000 of them are covering Pangasinan as the size of the province is more than half of the whole region.

De Guzman said enumerators are reminded to practice physical distancing, wearing of face mask and face shield, and they can be easily distinguished as they are wearing a uniform and an identification card.

She said the pandemic is a challenge to the census this year because there are areas placed under lockdown for a certain period of time.

The standing directive to the enumerators and supervisors is to always coordinate with the local government unit (LGU), she added.

“If there is no clearance, they will not enter the barangay. We will wait for the advisory from the LGU before we start saturating the area,” de Guzman said.

There are three ways for enumerators to extract data from households, she said, adding there should be no entry in areas under lockdown.

“First is the usual visit at the household, practicing social distancing, and ask the respondent to answer the census questionnaire that will take 15 to 25 minutes. Second, if the respondent refuses to answer the questionnaire or the interview, the enumerator can leave behind the self-administered questionnaire and collect it on another day. Third, the enumerator can get the cellphone number of the respondents and call them later,” de Guzman said.

She said one team supervisor is in charge of five enumerators and five team supervisors are under the supervision of a census area supervisor. They were all hired by PSA specifically for this 2020 census.

PSA enumerators will post stickers on the facade of the housing unit containing information that will guide the field editors and supervisors in their validation activities.

In Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, the census was started in some localities but there was a delay in other municipalities as training of enumerators started late and is being done by batch.

“Please give truthful and complete data because this will be the basis of our government informing policies and programs for the benefit of the citizens,” she said.

The PSA assures that all data collected are secured as it adheres to the provisions of the Republic Act 10173 on confidentiality of individual data, she added.

The PSA targets to release the population count in December.

The Philippines has a total population of 100.981 million as of 2015. The projected population in 2020 is 108,771,978.

The census this year was originally scheduled in May 2020 but was moved to September due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

This is the 15th census of population and 7th census of housing in the country. (PNA)