At 8:00 in the morning today the Tenth starts Census of Population and Housing that is carried out in the Dominican Republic, with more than 35 thousand people in the streets to count the population and register their standard of living.
The opposition political parties have made observations and have even suggested postponing the process, while the Catholic Church, social organizations, the business community and other political parties have expressed their support.
The director of the National Statistics Office, Miosotis Rivas, who has been in charge of the assembly, will carry out the first registration of President Luis Abinader at his residence, thus opening the day simultaneously throughout the territory.
““We cannot use a tool for national development by misinforming the population””Director of the X Census
The objective of registering everyone who steps on Dominican soil is to have the necessary statistics for the design of public policies and to know the demographic characteristics of each territory.
The director of Census, Víctor Romero, answered some doubts that have gravitated in recent days regarding this process. The first thing is that the ONE It will not apply sanctions for refusing to answer the questions, as established by Law 5096 on Statistics and National Censuses, since it is appealing to citizen duty.
Romero explained that in the past a working day was decreed because the censuses were in fact and were carried out in a very short time. However, the trend in the region is to apply more extensive censuses for 21 days and up to a month.
The work of the enumerators will be continuous on weekends in order to find the people who work from Monday to Friday.
Romero said that during the 14 days of this tenth version there will be an increase in police and military patrols. People will be able to verify their identity with the QR code on the census taker card or by calling the number *462.
Regarding the questions about the 67 questions contained in the census ballot, Romero pointed out that “the same questions that are being criticized now have been applied in other censuses in the Dominican Republic” and in other countries in the region.
He recalled that censuses are carried out in rounds in various countries, at the same time and with similar questions. He added that “if we look at the 2010 ballot, the same questions about the immigration issue have been applying.”
He stated that the ONE cannot reveal the data of the people and recalled that this entity is not dedicated to migration issues.
They are not weapons
The vice president of the Dominican Liberation Party, Juan Ariel Jiménez, expressed his support for the census in social networks.
“From educational policy to citizen security policies, we all benefit if we have good statistics. By the way, only with updated data can you have a frank dialogue to find the right solutions,” said the former Minister of Economy, Planning and Development.
“Censuses are not “ideological weapons” to promote an agenda, neither left nor right. Censuses simply collect crude information. That is, they give us the diagnosis, without further ado, like a laboratory test does, ”he added.
Alfredo Pacheco urges to support the process
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, urged the population and all sectors to support the X National Population and Housing Center so that this process is successful.
Offering an impromptu press conference, the congressional leader branded the sectors that have opposed the statistical operation that begins today and will end on November 26, as “ominous voices.”
He stressed that the population registry will be a great ally of the public policies implemented by the government. “We offer our support to this Population and Housing Census and we tell the population that they should not be led by ominous voices that unfortunately try to oppose or take political advantage of any situation that is taking place in the Dominican Republic,” he said. .
He added: “We urge, we exhort the organized sectors of the entire national territory, civil society, political parties, everyone who has something to contribute to these tasks, which will serve, as has been reported, so that the country can correctly have the best planning for the application of the best public policies that the Dominican Republic needs at this time”.
Pacheco considered as “subterfuge” the allegations presented by civil society activists, including representatives of Christian institutions and deputies of the People’s Force and Alianza País to request the postponement of the X National Census for alleged errors in the census ballot and crime that exists in the country. “Those are subterfuges that have been taking place. This census should have been carried out in 2020 and we did not do it as a result of the forecasts that were made due to the pandemic (of COVID-19), due to various situations that affected the Dominican Republic, ”he indicated.
enemies of the country
The Democratic Option deputy, José Horacio Rodríguez, agreed with Pacheco, who also urged citizens to contribute to the success of the event. He considered that those who oppose the X Census “are enemies of the country.”
“There will always be an excuse for those who do not want us to have reliable information in order to move forward as a country. These fears, I think we have to put them aside. A lot of information is being said that is false,” she expressed.
