GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA) — The provincial government of South Cotabato has reactivated its census coordination board to assist in the conduct of the 2010 population and housing census in the area.

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said the reactivation of the Provincial Census Coordination Board (PCCB) was based on Executive Order 29, and in compliance with the Reorganization Act of the Philippine Statistical System.

She said the PCCB will mainly assist the National Statistics Office (NSO) in conducting the 2010 Census of Population and Housing in the area that is scheduled from May 17 to June 11.

“The reactivation of the PCCB will help ensure a quality, realistic, world-class and timely data gathering that would eventually help our national and local planners in coming up with realistic approaches to various concerns affecting our local communities,” the governor said.

The scheduled 2010 Census of Population and Housing is part of a nationally-coordinated program spearheaded by the NSO and other supporting government agencies.

Ruben Abaro Jr., NSO provincial statistics officer, said the reactivation of the PCCB is a vital component of the census program in the area as it will help facilitate the flow of various activities related to the conduct of this year’s population and housing census.

He said they involved the PCCB in the census program to allow various sectors to participate and make sure that it would be implemented as scheduled.

Abaro explained that based on Batas Pambansa 72, the nationwide census should be every 10 years but the 2005 leg was previously deferred due to the effects of the financial crisis.

Owing to a clamor by local governments on the need for a new census result as a requirement for the updating of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the local government units (LGUs), he said the census partially pushed through in 2007.

“The 2010 CPH is one of the flagship projects of the NSO and we’re working double time to make sure that there would be no hitches when the census will begin,” he said.

For this year’s census, Abaro said the NSO has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the assignment of teachers as enumerators.