Sunday, May 04, 2008 Province to implement CBMS By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Provincial Government seeks to become a more competitive province by addressing the community problems in a systematic manner.
Governor Eddie Panlilio said this is doable through the Community Based Information System (CBMS) that serves as a social response in the detection and formulation of the "cure" for poverty.
The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), in collaboration with the provincial government of Pampanga, recently held an orientation briefing on CBMS at Benigno Aquino Hall on Friday.
NAPC Assistant Secretary Catherine Mae Santos stated that the Philippine government's current poverty monitoring system greatly relies on a few heavy surveys on household income, expenditures and health.
She further added that these are by nature too costly to be frequently undertaken and makes it impossible to obtain a comprehensive profile of the poverty and health situation at specific point in time.
With this, the Philippine government has embarked on an endeavor to ensure the nationwide implementation of CBMS.
CBMS is designed in an organized process of data collection, processing, validation, and integration of data. It would serve as a local monitoring system for local government planners as a means to gather precise information on a wide variety subjects. It can in addition provide a strong basis for the formulation of truly effective millennium development programs at the local level.
This bustle is similarly geared towards identifying and targeting of the poor to enhance the effectiveness of anti-poverty initiatives and programs. It will exhibit a community picture.
CBMS is seen as an answer in making it easier for the provincial government to directly target and determine the needs of the Pampangueños in improving the way of life, by providing an alternative or additional source of income. The program is also expected see crimes brought about by poverty to decrease overtime.
The province created a core group that will focus on this endeavor by providing a set timetable in the collection of data, proffer training for student scholars from the Special Program for Employment for Students (SPES) residing within the barangay whom will be utilize as enumerators, and solicit non-financial support among municipalities in terms of an aid from the barangay health workers, and a workforce for the collection and encoding of information obtained in their respective towns.
NAPC will assist in technical assessment, validation, and processing of figures gathered. The program is projected to have its completion in three months time along with the formulation of methods to alleviate the problems will be laid.
Provincial administrator Vivian Dabu affirmed the provincial capitol's commitment in providing necessary fund or budget needed for the execution of the said program.
The Provincial Government said the success of the program with the help of all the municipalities in the province.
Panlilio is very optimistic that this will help in the improvement of the poverty situation in the province.
