The National Statistics Office has shipped various relevant materials to be used for the field operations of Census 2000, the nationwide head count which will be conducted during the month of May. The materials required precision printing as these will be digitally processed using intelligent optical scanning technologies. Because census materials are not ordinary articles, its printing had also been done in secrecy. Measures were likewise taken to ensure its security and non-pilferage.

It was a massive project for the APO Production Unit, the printer tapped by the NSO for Census 2000. The census will collect data about the 15.3 million Filipino households in 42,000 barangays nationwide. Thus, the APO had to produce 17,265,300 census stickers, an equal number of sets of census questionnaires, and sets of reference handbooks and forms for the census work force, comprising of 44,500 census-takers (enumerators), 9,700 team supervisors, and 1,100 census area supervisors. Some 280 APO personnel and ten printing machines had been working in two shifts round-the-clock for two months to produce the materials. All these materials were completed before the last week of March and are now being shipped to NSO offices throughout the country.

The data processing of the census questionnaires will be digital and optical scanner-based. Thus, the NSO, aware that such technologies are sensitive to the paper and ink of the forms, clearly specified the requirements for precise and controlled printing. The census questionnaire alone required a certain density of paper and an exact shade of magenta ink. Such were among the control measures adapted to verify their authenticity during data processing. The NSO’s optical scanners are programmed to reject forms that do not conform to this exact color specification or if the form is a photocopy of an original.

The printing of the Census 2000 various field materials and questionnaires consumed 487 metric tons of rolled paper. The papers were imported from Hong Kong as local paper manufacturers could not guarantee the supply of the specific paper stocks required by the NSO. Ironically, aside from better quality, the cost of imported paper was cheaper than local paper.

Even the stickers to be posted on the gates of every residence counted are not ordinary. The sticker paper was produced specially for the census by a foreign manufacturer to effectively adhere to nipa, wood, concrete, galvanized iron, and steel, the materials commonly used for house and building construction here. It also required 600 kilos of ink imported from a French manufacturer. The ink has a specific acidity (pH rating of 8) and best adheres to the special paper used for the sticker. The ink’s formulation is resistant to fading, and is color-fast for at least ten months, four times longer than locally available inks.

According to APO, the timing of the printing was critical. Census 2000 materials had to be printed early enough to ensure the delivery of the materials by the week before the actual enumeration. On the other hand, the printing could not be finished too early, to avoid long storage period that invites pilferage and switching.

The census is a politically-sensitive project. Since, budget allocations are based on the actual population, there are municipalities and even barangays which contest the statistics on population distribution. There are some local government heads who have the tendency to bloat their head count figures or to expand the boundaries of their respective jurisdiction to maximize their allocations.

According to NSO Administrator Tomas Africa, the census will also include MILF-held areas. "Muslim leaders are very concerned about the inaccurate statistics about the Muslim population here. They complain about the ‘statistical genocide’ of their people, and so are very interested about the census reaching their areas. Agreements have been made to ensure the security of the enumerators who will cover MILF territories. We are training Muslim teachers jointly agreed to act as enumerators for the MILF side," Africa said.