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DSWD wants Listahanan data to other available for easing povertyBy Manila Bulletin

By Minerva Newman

CEBU CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayas wants make its Listahanan data available to other government line agencies and non-government organizations’ pro-poor and social reform programs.

Graeme Ferdinand Armecin, DSWD-7 OIC Division Chief for Policy and Plans Division (DSWD Region VII / FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)

DSWD Regional Chief of Policy and Plans Division Graeme Armecin told Manila Bulletin Listahanan, or what used to be the National Household Targeting Section (NHTS), the database uses a proximate test model and unified criteria in identifying who and where the poor households are.

“The Listahanan is a comprehensive database scientifically gathered, evaluated and reviewed since Listahanan 1 in 2009, Listahanan 2 in 2015 and Listahanan 3 for 2019,” Armecin said.

He added that the data not only contains statistics on identified poor households in Central Visayas but also holds relevant information like names, addresses, educational background and the number of poor households who do not have access to electricity, water and sanitary toilets.

It also has the number of poor sectors such as senior citizen, persons with disabilities (PWDs) that may be useful in planning and implementation of social protection programs to benefit these sectors, Armecin said.

The data may also be used for studies about the poverty incidence in a specific barangay, city, municipality, province and regions in the country.

For Central Visayas alone, DSWD pushed a P153-million budget to update or upgrade Listahanan for the 2019 review, he added.

Hilton John Edrial, NHTS head, Central Visayas has identified 534,433 poor household under Listahanan 2 and “we are targeting 1,068,708 households in Central Visayas for Listahanan 3.”

Edrial said that based on Listahahan 2, provincial poverty incidence, latest population DSWD has assessed 551,791 poor households in Cebu; 244,630 in Bohol; 252,525 in Negros Oriental and 19,763 in Siquijor.

Edrial said DSWD visited the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) of Negros Oriental to discuss the salient features of the data as well as the requirements to have it, particularly the need to have a Data Privacy Officer (DPO) among othersin compliance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012 as mandated by the National Privacy Commission (NPC) and Memorandum of Agreement between the DSWD and the PLGU.

The NHTS continues to share the importance of the Listahanan data so that all poverty alleviation and other social reform programs and services are directly given to the identified poor families in the country, Edrial stated.