NUMBERS & PEOPLE

TWO WEEKS AGO, an old man came aroundand asked how many resided in our house. I was wondering why an old man, maybe in his 70s would do that. So I asked him politely who he was. He replied he was from the KOKOZEI CHOZA... and he showed me his ID card hanging on his neck. * YEAH,....you're right! I didn't know that! Oh well..... He promised he'll be back after a couple of days. I dismissed that as some weird salesman or somethin... EXACTLY TWO DAYS LATER,he did come back! Goodness! I was out working on the hedges and cutting the ones fronting my room when he rang the doorbell. Apparently, he didn't notice me on atop the step-ladder on the far side of the main house. He said he was leaving something [an envelope] and will pick it up after a week. I took it and thank him for his efforts. Here, you HAVE TO say something to thank everyone's efforts: to the PostMen, the Meter Readers [electric and gas]and even the Newspaper Delivery Man/Woman, practically EVERYONE! It's part of that gratitude thing. I left it for JIJI to see. As usual, he said he'll do it next time. ** DATA-GATHERING STARTED here again. That's what all those envelope was all about. The Census-taking is done every five years just to UPDATE THE RECORDS. Most services like the LOCAL POLICE, the CITY HALL, the CENSUS AND OTHERS...here go around and take note of the change: in telephone numbers, the number of residents, the names of additional members, and so on... I guess this is good; it updates its record once every five year and sets their record straight. Doing this also makes them aware who resides where and thus makes regular contact with the corresponding agencies. *** Take the example of those illegal/non-visa foreigners.. The policemen regularly visit the residences ON FOOT and thus keeps track of the people in the community. Thus, if they suspect some illegal residents there, they contact the IMMIGRATION officers and these IOs work from there. These results in numerous raids and arrests of those "Os" or what most Pinoys here call "BILOG". **** I WONDER.....do we have updated STATISTICS in INANG BAYAN? .1. do we still have FOOT PATROLS [THE POLICEMEN WHO GO AROUND WALKING AND CHECKING HOUSEHOLDS FOR CRIMES, SAFETY, ET CETERA? ..2. do we say THANK YOU to POSTMEN, METER-READERS, POLICEMEN? ... 3. do we HAVE CENSUS/STATISTICS PEOPLE GOING AROUND [BY FOOT] AND CHECK THE NUMBER OF RESIDENTS IN ANY GIVEN AREA? I WONDER.... *****