REQUIRING THE TAKING OF AN INTEGRATED CENSUS OF POPULATION AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN MAY 1975 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
WHEREAS, more recent census data on the Philippine population is required for national, social and economic planning and for the formulation of national and sectoral policies on manpower development and utilization, health, education, housing and population control, etc;
WHEREAS, national censuses are the primary sources of basic data on population that could adequately meet these needs;
WHEREAS, the last census of the Philippines conducted on May 6, 1970, would not truly reflect the changes brought about by recent government programs adopted to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country;
WHEREAS, to provide economic planners and administrators with the data needed for national planning and to properly evaluate the progress made in various fields and measure the impact of non-going projects of the governments, as well as provide the "barangays" with the latest data on their population to effect desired changes and reforms in the social, economic and political structures within their jurisdiction, a total enumeration of the population is necessary;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree that a national census be undertaken in May 1975, in accordance with the plans drawn by the National Census and Statistics Office, in coordination with the National Economic and Development Authority, and such census shall cover an enumeration of the population and their economic activities.
The Board shall issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary to successfully carry out this national undertaking.
As a counterpart of the Presidential Census Coordinating Board at the local government level, there shall be established a Provincial, City or Municipal Census Board in each province, city and municipality, as the case may be, which shall provide such facilities and assistance as shall, be required by the National Census and Statistics Office. The Provincial Census Board shall be composed of the Provincial Governor, as Chairman, and the Division Superintendent of Schools, Senior District Highway Engineer, PC Provincial Commander, Provincial Development Officer and the Provincial Agriculturist, as members. The City Census Board shall be composed of the City Mayor, as Chairman, and the City Superintendent of Schools, City Engineer and the City Development Officer, as members. The Municipal Census Board shall be composed of the Municipal Mayor, as Chairman, and the Supervisor/Principal Teacher, Municipal Agriculturist, and the Municipal Development Officer, as members.
The Executive Officer of the Presidential Census Coordinating Board shall be the Executive Director of the National Census and Statistics Office while that of the local board shall be the Provincial Census Officer for provinces and the Municipal Census Officer/Census Assistant or the City/Municipal Census Supervisor for cities and municipalities.
The Boards may call upon any department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the government for any assistance in the performance of their functions.
Section 2. Census Day. The first day of May, 1975 is hereby designated as Census Day from which date the census field enumeration shall commerce and continue until every individual in the country shall have been enumerated. The collection of data will be by enumeration and the respondent shall be the head or any responsible member of the household.
Section 3. Participation of various government agencies and instrumentalities. All heads of departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the government, government-owned and controlled corporations, and provincial, city and municipal officials, including the barangay chairman, are hereby enjoined to organize seminars, meetings and open forums on the forthcoming nationwide census operation and to make available their facilities as well as the services of such personnel as may hereafter be requested or requisitioned by the National Census and Statistics Office to insure the success of the census.
Section 4. Enumeration personnel and government employees drafted for census work. Whenever feasible, public school teachers and college students under the Youth Civic Action Program (YCAP) shall be utilized for enumeration work; in which case a public school teacher shall be paid an honorarium not to exceed P150.00 plus service credits equivalent to the number of days engaged in census work; a college student shall be given an allowance not to exceed P100.00 for services as census enumerator; government employees whose services are drafted for census work shall be entitled to such allowances as shall be prescribed by the President Census Coordinating Board, payable from census funds.
Section 5. Population count. Before the end of 1975, a count of the population by province, municipality, and barangay shall be published by the National Census and Statistics Office, which population count, upon proclamation by the President of the Philippines, shall be considered official for all purposes, until the final count has been determined from the processed census returns.
Section 6. Confidentiality of census data. Data furnished the National Census and Statistics Office shall not be used as evidence in any court or public officer, either as evidence for or against any individual; nor shall such data be divulged to any person except to authorized employees of the National Census and Statistics Office, acting in the performance of their duties; nor shall such data be published except in the form of summaries or statistical tables in which no reference to an individual shall appear. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both.
Section 7. Punishable acts. Any person who refuses access to his premises of duly appointed census enumerators; or refuses to the interviewed, or fails or refuses to furnish the information called for in the census questionnaire; or knowingly gives data or information which shall prove to be materially untrue in any particular shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred pesos or by imprisonment of not more than six months, or by both.
Section 8. Cooperation of the mass media and the general public. The cooperation of the various types of media in giving the 1975 census as wide a publicity as possible to promote the attainment of this Decree is enjoined, FURTHER; The general public is enjoined to give true and accurate information to census enumerators to insure the reliability of the data collected.
Section 9. Appropriation. the Commissioner of the Budget shall provide the National Census and Statistics Office with the amount of NINETEEN MILLION PESOS (P19,000,000.00) or so much thereof as is necessary to undertake the 1975 Integrated Census of Population and Economic Activities, including the processing, tabulation and publication of the census results in pursuance to Sec. 4, paragraph 28 of Presidential Decree No. 503.
Section 10. Repealing clause. All laws and executive orders, or parts thereof, contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.
Section 11. Effectivity. This decree shall take effect and be implemented immediately.
Done in the City of Manila, this 31st day of January in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-five.
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