President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and other concerned government agencies to immediately conduct a census through the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) to make the government anti-poverty and social protection initiatives more responsive and effective.
In a press briefing in Malacanang, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian said there was extensive discussion on the CBMS during today’s sectoral meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Malacañang where the chief executive ordered the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to conduct the CBMS this year to update the list of 4Ps beneficiaries. The 4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program list being currently used was drawn up in 2019 or before the Covid 19 pandemic.
The sectoral meeting centered on reforms to the 4Ps on how to make it more responsive to the needs of the program’s beneficiaries.
PSA Head, Undersecretary Nestor Mapa, assured the President that once their budget is released by the Department of Budget and Management, they will start the census and come up with a new list by end the year.
Under RA 11315 or the CBMS Act, the PSA is mandated to implement the system through the generation of data at the local level which serves as a basis in targeting households for government programs geared towards poverty alleviation and economic development.
The CBMS collects statistical and geospatial information for local-level planning and beneficiary targeting, enabling local governments to exercise data-driven decision making as well as support national government agencies in targeting beneficiaries.
“The major highlight is the President reemphasized so many times that the CBMS ay dapat gawin na at sabi naman ng NEDA at DBM the funds are being processed, [once] released, they can conduct that,” Gatchalian said.
Although the DSWD has been cleaning up it 4Ps list or the Listahanan, according to Gatchalian, it might not capture some families who are not part of the actual list because what they have is an old list prepared in 2019.
Listahanan, also known as the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor individuals and families are nationwide.
Gatchalian also stated that the CBMS is a useful tool because it is granular down to the individual, adding that other agencies implementing anti-poverty programs of their own can also use the CBMS aside from the DSWD.
“It’s a very effective tool, kasi granular siya, nakapa-micro ng kanyang sinusukat at dahil LGU-driven ito, together with the PSA, puwede n’yong i-update ang update nang mas mabilis. Kasi alam mo ‘yung lugar,” he stated.