TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is eyeing to turn over completed community-based monitoring system (CBMS) data to all 91 towns of Eastern Visayas before the year ends.
Zonia Salazar, assistant chief of the PSA regional statistical operation and coordination division, said on Thursday the enumeration in all areas has been completed while analysis and validation are ongoing for half of the covered areas.
“We have already turned over completed CBMS data to 42 towns as of this week. The target is to turn over all data before 2024,” Salazar said in a phone interview.
The data provides the region’s local government units with a tool for a more improved governance and greater transparency and accountability in resource allocation.
“The CBMS is a diagnostic tool to assess poverty at the village, municipal, city, and provincial level. It provides policymakers and program implementers with a good information base for tracking the impacts of macroeconomic reforms,” PSA 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Wilma Perante, said in a statement.
In the past few days, the PSA has turned over data to the towns of Almagro, Hinabangan, Jiabong, Marabut, Motiong, San Jose de Buan, Santa Rita, Talalora, Tarangnan, Villareal, Zumarraga, Tagapul-an, San Jorge, and Pagsanghan in Samar.
Other areas are Hindang, Julita, La Paz, MacArthur, Mayorga, Merida, Pastrana, Sta. Fe, Tabontabon, Tolosa, and Tunga in Leyte; Balangkayan, Gen. MacArthur, Hernani, Jipapad, Maslog, and Quinapondan in Eastern Samar; Liloan, Macrohon, Silago, and Sogod in Southern Leyte; and Biliran, Almeria, Culaba, Caibiran, Cabucgayan, Maripipi, and Kawayan in Biliran province.
Turnover has been delayed in Northern Samar due to recent flooding that affected several areas in the province.
CBMS refers to an organized technology-based system of collecting, processing, and validating necessary disaggregated data that may be used for planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring at the local level while empowering communities to participate in the process.
The system, mandated under Republic Act 11315, involves the generation of data at the local level, which serves as the basis for targeting households in the planning, budgeting, and implementation of government programs geared toward poverty alleviation and economic development.
“The CBMS entails a census of households using accelerated poverty profiling systems in the data. Data generated from CBMS will serve as the compendium of localized facts, figures, and maps on the different dimensions of poverty,” Perante added.
These dimensions include health, nutrition, water, sanitation, shelter, education, income, employment, security, and participation.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)
