2010 Census doing well despite some hitches

CEBU, Philippines - The 2010 Census on Population and Housing is proceeding generally smoothly in Central Visayas except for some incidents of refusal by respondents and another incident where a foreigner let his dog loose on the teachers.

In Basak-San Nicolas, Cebu City, last week, a foreigner with a Filipina wife intentionally let loose his German shepherd to drive away four teacher enumerators.

Noel Rafols, National Statistics Office information officer, said that the residence of this particular foreigner and his wife was first visited last Monday by the assigned enumerator.

The foreigner allegedly badmouthed the enumerator and refused to be interviewed so the enumerator returned on Tuesday with three other companions to persuade the couple once more to participate in the census.

But the foreigner, instead of participating, intentionally let go of his dog that chased the four enumerators, one of whom was bitten in the hand.

The incident was reported and blottered at the barangay hall of Basak-San Nicolas where the couple was summoned last Friday. The couple apologized to the victims and agreed to support all government endeavors in the future granting there will be prior notice.

Rafols said that they are also having difficulties penetrating high-end subdivisions because they cannot get the permission to enter right away.

And once they get the permission to conduct interviews inside, only helpers, who have less knowledge about the family residing in a particular household, are the ones they get to face.

Most of the time, they have to visit each house twice which is causing them delays. Rafols, however, said that these are only minor incidents because in most areas in Central Visayas, people are cooperative.

He said this can be attributed to the massive information dissemination campaign conducted by the NSO in cooperation with the local government units.

“When I personally supervised northern Cebu, when we visit the households, most people would say, ‘A, mao ni ang among nadunggan sa radio or natan-awan sa TV?’ which means they are already aware,” Rafols said. (THE FREEMAN)