2015 CENSUS OF POPULATION

What is the main objective of the POPCEN 2015?

The POPCEN 2015 aims to provide government executives,
policy and decision makers, and planners with population data, especially updated population counts of all barangays in the country, on which to base their social and economic development plans, policies, and programs.

What are the legal bases of the PSA for conducting the
POPCEN 2015?

The authority and mandate of the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) to conduct the POPCEN 2015 emanates from Republic Act (RA) No. 10625 and Executive Order (EO) No. 352. Approved on September 12, 2013, RA No. 10625, also known as the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, 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.

Specifically, Section 6(b) of this Act mandates the PSA to prepare and conduct periodic censuses on population, housing, agriculture, fisheries, business, industry, and other sectors of
the economy.

EO No. 352, Designation of Statistical Activities That Will Generate Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and the Private Sector, stipulates the conduct of a mid-decade census primarily to update the population count in all barangays nationwide.

What are the basic uses of the statistics that will be derived from the POPCEN 2015?

The uses of POPCEN data encompass all sectors. Among the important uses of the data from this census are the following:

In government:
􀂃 redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats;
􀂃 allocation of resources and revenues;
􀂃 creation/conversion of political and administrative
units;
􀂃 formulation of policies concerning various segments of the population (children, youth, elderly, women of
reproductive age, voting age, and working age); and
􀂃 formulation of policies and programs relative to the
delivery of basic services, such as on health, education, employment, housing, infrastructure, disaster relief, and other socio-economic concerns.
In business and industry:
􀂃 identification of sites for establishing businesses;
􀂃 determination of consumer demands for various goods
and services; and
􀂃 improvement of supply of labor for the production of
goods and services.
In research and academic institutions:
􀂃 conduct of researches on population and related
disciplines; and
􀂃 study of population growth and geographic distribution
as bases in preparing population projections at the
national and subnational levels.
When will the census enumeration be conducted?
The listing and enumeration for the POPCEN 2015 will last for about 25 working days (including Saturdays and may include Sundays and holidays), from August 10 to September 6, 2015.

Who shall be the respondents in the census?
There are three (3) types of questionnaires to be used in this census: the Household Questionnaire (CP Form 2), the Institutional Population Questionnaire (CP Form 4), and the Barangay Schedule
(CP Form 5).

The respondent for CP Form 2 shall be the head of the
household or his/her spouse, or any responsible member of the household who can provide accurate answers to the questions or who can give correct information for the household and all its members. For CP Form 4, the respondent/s shall be the manager, administrator or the individual members of the institution or
institutional living quarter. The Punong Barangay or any incumbent barangay official, meanwhile, shall be the respondent for CP Form 5.

Are census respondents obliged to provide truthful and completeanswers to the census?

Yes. Section 27 of RA 10625 states that respondents of
primary data collection activities such as censuses and sample surveys are obliged to give truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries. The gathering, consolidation, and analysis of such data shall likewise be done in the most truthful and
credible manner.

Any individual who refuses or fails to give truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries shall be imposed a penalty of one (1) year imprisonment and a fine of one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00).
What will be the assurance of the public that the information given to the census enumerator will not be used for other purposes?

All personnel involved in POPCEN 2015 are required to keep in STRICT CONFIDENCE any information obtained during the census that pertains to any particular household or person.

Section 26 of R.A. No. 10625 stipulates that individual data furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses of the PSA shall be considered privileged information
and as such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.

The PSA releases data gathered from 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.