Officials urge NMI residents: ‘Be counted’

The federal government deployed close to 300 enumerators and field supervisors throughout the Northern Marianas Saturday, marking the start of the CNMI-wide Census 2000 which is being carried out once every 10 years.

Census 2000 Area Manager Sohale Samari said celebrity households including those of Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, Bishop Thomas Camacho and Saipan Mayor Jose Sablan were the first to be enumerated.

Mr. Samari said enumerators, crew leaders and field supervisors were divided into four major teams which were dispatched to do door-to-door interview of all the households on Saipan.
There is one team each to carry out enumeration on Tinian and Rota.

He was urging the public to let enumerators inside their homes as he called for accurate responses on the Census 2000 questions, citing the importance of correct answers in identifying what and how much funding the Commonwealth needs from the United States government.

Commerce Secretary Frankie Villanueva underscored the value of census data in the local government’s efforts to build better infrastructures and improve the delivery of basic services to the CNMI community.

“It will help us build better roads, improve power, have better health care, and provide our children a better education. Every family in the CNMI wants those things, but your hardwork will make it a reality for them,” Mr. Villanueva told enumerators during the Census 2000 kick off ceremonies at the American Memorial Park Saturday morning.

The commerce chief also assured the public can provide census enumerators with accurate responses to the survey questions, underscoring that no individual information will be released to any federal and local government agencies.

“The public can be confident that their census information will be kept confidential since we have all been sworn to secrecy,” Mr. Villanueva pointed out.

Only group data will be made available for government agencies, non-governmental organizations and private businesses.

The U.S. government periodically gathers data on population, including demographic information, to measure how much funding a public entity needs and identify better ways to efficiently respond to both natural and man-made disasters.

Washington Census Advisor Tasha Boone is encouraging CNMI residents, including documented and undocumented aliens to answer questionnaires from information collectors accurately to ensure that everyone in the island is counted.

Information which will be gathered from Census 2000 is of great importance in the CNMI government’s efforts to spur economic activities in the islands by enticing foreign and mainland investors to do business here.

Census 2000 will include mapping of houses through door-to-door collection of data. The information will then be kept in the archives for use in disaster relief.

Door-to-door collection of data began April 1, 2000 while officials started mailing out questionnaires last March 27, 2000.

Information collection is expected to stretch up to six weeks.