Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) president Dakila “Dax’’ Cua called on the local chief executives (LCEs) to provide the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) ample support in the conduct of the “2024 Population Census and Community-Based Monitoring System (2024 POPCEN-CBMS)’’ slated from July 15 to September 2024.
In a statement, Cua stressed that “the 2024 POPCEN-CBMS is an important undertaking, and local government units should do their part in ensuring that it is effectively conducted in the communities that they supervise.”
Through Proclamation 627, the President declared July 2024 as the “National Census and Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Month, ” which tasked the concerned government agencies and instrumentalities to support the PSA in this nationwide undertaking.
“The government is mandated by Executive Order (EO) 352 to conduct the Popcen every five years,’’ Cua noted.
He stated that Republic Act (RA) 11315 otherwise known as the CBMS Act of 2019 calls for the data collection for the CBMS by every city and municipality in the country every three years.
Cua underscored the need for proper data collection and synthesis to help the government have a clearer picture of the country’s socio-economic status.
“We use the census and CBMS to craft our poverty alleviation and social protection strategies, so we need to ensure that the data we collect is as comprehensive and accurate as possible,” he added.
The ULAP chief Cua also appealed to all Filipinos “to cooperate with census data gatherers.’’
“Batid po natin na may pangamba na baka pagsamantalahan ng mga kriminal ang census. Ngunit lehitimo po itong aktibidad, at kailangan lang na maging mapagmatyag tayo. Naka-id at uniform po ang mga PSA enumerators, at hindi po sila hihingi ng mga confidential information gaya ng bank account at one-time (personal identification number) PIN (We are fully aware that there are concerns on the possibility of criminals taking advantage of the census. But this is a legitimate activity and we only need to be observant. The PSA enumerators have IDs and are wearing uniforms and they would not be asking for confidential information like bank account and one-time PIN),’’ Cua assured.