The census aims to provide the government with information on the country's citizenry, which would help it form long-term plans.

In Central Visayas, 2,679 enumerators will be fielded throughout the region's four provinces. These enumerators will visit each household not just to determine the number of people living in it, but also collect data on each citizen's properties and occupation.

The last nationwide census was conducted in 2000.

Lilia Tandoc, regional director of the National Statistics Office in Central Visayas (NSO-7), said the public is encouraged to cooperate with the enumerators so that correct information may be relayed to the government as a basis for future projects and programs.

Noel Rafols, Public Information Officer of NSO-7 said that a census is not just used for government statistics, but may also be used by businesses and industries, as well as academic and research institutions.

Tandoc assured that information collected from residents would not be used against them as stated under Commonwealth Act 591, which protects the respondents of a census.

However, those who refuse to cooperate in the census or those who knowingly provide wrong information could be fined P600 or imprisoned for not more than three months, or both.

Tandoc said that in Cebu Province, the population is expected to have risen from 2.38 million in 2000 to 3.95 million this year or a rise of about 1.57 million.

Bohol Province, Tandoc said, is projected have an increase of around 100,000 from 1.1 million in 2000 to 1.2 million this year.

Negros Oriental's population will have risen from 1.13 million to 1.26 million, while Siquijor would go up from 21,150 to 89,000.

Regionwide, the population increase should be around 1.8 million, from the 5.7 million from 2000 to a present population of around 7.5 million.

Rosita Lagunda, a statistician with NSO's central office who is in Cebu to help with the Central Visayas census, said this year's census was originally scheduled for 2005, but was postponed due to budget constraints.

"Hopefully, we could have another census by 2010, depending on the budget," Lagunda said.

She said 40,000 enumerators would be deployed throughout the country.

The 2000 census pegged the population of the Philippines at 76,504,077.

Lagunda said the country's population is expected to be at least 86 million today.

According to the NSO officials, the government uses census information as a basis for creating programs, the creation of district, the upgrading of local government units, and for proper distribution of resources.

Business and industries, on the other hand, use census information to know where to establish certain kinds of enterprises, and to identify a number of potential employees in an area.

Academic and research institutions also use the census as a basis for studies.