7 census enumerators bitten by dogs, cat in Pangasinan

CALASIAO, Pangasinan, Philippines – Seven census enumerators were bitten by dogs and a cat while conducting a house-to-house census of population and housing around the province.

Dante Pescador, provincial statistics officer of the National Census Office (NSO) said the following census agents were bitten by dogs: Leny Pince of Bolinao, Aprilene Corpuz of Anda, Fatima Taminaya of Urdaneta City, Faye Sadiasa of Alaminos City, Janet Parangat of Binmaley and Rommel Oxymer of Tayug; Marilou Turner of Mangaldan, on the other hand, was bitten by a cat.

NSO covered the medical expenses of the victims, including their anti-rabies shots. 

Pescador appealed to dog and cat owners to secure their pets to prevent them from harming visitors.

There are 2,703 census enumerators surveying the province since May 17. Each of them is assigned to cover 350 households in 18 days. They will receive a service fee of P11,559 plus service credit equivalent to the number of days in census work. 

“They endure walking under the heat of the sun, and even get bitten by dogs or cats. We hope people would cooperate,” he said in Filipino. 

 Pescador said their enumerators usually coordinate with the presidents of homeowners associations of subdivisions that are difficult to penetrate. He also advised enumerators to coordinate with barangay officials when they do their rounds.  

Each barangay captain gets P1,500 from the NSO for their assistance.

 Enumerators can be easily identified because of their identification cards and uniform t-shirts with “2010 Census of Population and Housing” printed on the front.

Pescador explained that the population and housing data gathered in this year’s census would guide local government units in apportioning local revenues.

“More population means more IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment),” Pescador said.

The last population and housing census was done in 2000. The law mandates that the census be conducted every 10 years. In 2007, a census was conducted only on population.