Negros Oriental census hits snag as enumerators back out

Personnel from the Statistical Division of PSA Negros Oriental collects data from a household Brgy. Bagacay, Dumaguete City as part of the 2024 POPCEN-CBMS. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of PSA – Negros Oriental

DUMAGUETE CITY — The 2024 Population Census-Community-Based Monitoring System (PopCen-CBMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Negros Oriental had been extended after several enumerators backed out, an official said Thursday.

Engineer Ariel Fortuito, PSA-Negros Oriental chief statistical specialist and provincial head, told the Philippine News Agency in an interview that the Sept. 15 national deadline had been extended after they failed to meet their target.

Fortuito said they reached 80 percent and expected to complete it by the end of October.

“Currently, we have about an 80-percent accomplishment already and we hope to complete the census by the end of October,” he said.

The biggest challenge they faced was that several enumerators backed out while the program was underway for some reasons, he added.

The PSA local chief said some enumerators were students and had to juggle their time between school and fieldwork.

These individuals did not say they were students when they applied for the job, according to Fortuito.

Other enumerators were also from business process outsourcing companies that mostly had night shifts, which impeded their daytime assignments, he said.

He did not give specific numbers.

The PSA in Negros Oriental had to hire new and additional enumerators that they had to train first before fielding them, he explained.

Fortuito is optimistic they will complete the PopCen-CBMS in the province in the next few weeks as the PSA had to submit all data to the national office before the end of the year. (PNA)