MALATE, Manila– The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MIMAROPA has completed the first and second phases of the 3rd Round Listahanan Household Assessment or L3 covering  595,328 households (HHs) in the five MIMAROPA provinces.

Of the 622,230 estimated target households regionwide, 95.7 percent were assessed.

A total of 96,628 (101.6%) HHs assessed in Occidental Mindoro; 183,523 (98.3%) HHs in Oriental Mindoro; 49,825 (98.4)% HHs in Marinduque; 61,025 (93.3%) HHs in Romblon; and 204,327 (91.0%) HHs in Palawan.

The house-to-house assessment started in November 2019 and officially ended in January of this year which was administered by 1,027 field workers comprising Enumerators, Area Coordinators, and Supervisors.

DSWD used the Household Assessment Forms (HAFs) in gathering information that contained poverty indicators deemed in identifying the household’s economic status.

To date, all gathered information in the HAFs are encoded in a computer-based application for initial identification of poor and non-poor through the Proxy Means Test (PMT).

PMT is a statistical formula that estimates household income using verifiable variables indicated in the assessment forms. The estimated household income is compared to the existing provincial threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). An income that falls below the poverty threshold is considered poor while household income above the threshold is tagged as non-poor.

As part of the process, the initial list of poor households will be open to the public for verification starting March.

L3 Validation Phase

“During the validation stage, the initial results of the data collection are posted in secured areas in the barangay. This gives the chance to validate the accuracy of the list of poor and encourage community participation,” said Ernie Jarabejo, Regional Field Coordinator

Part of the validation phase is the On-Demand Application (ODA), a process that allows unassessed households to be included in the Listahanan database.

In accepting validation-related grievances, the DSWD partnered with barangay and local government units.

“The Department has institutionalized the Barangay Verification Team (BVT) and the Local Verification Committee (LVC) with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) through a Memorandum of Understanding,” said Jarabejo.

The BVT and LVC composed of barangay and local officials and representatives from civil society organizations will evaluate and resolve grievances received relative to the initial list.

The Department continues to call the public and all stakeholders to support the Listahanan activities ensuring that less fortunate families and individuals are covered.

“The 2019 Listahanan result will be used as a reference tool for selecting potential recipients of various government social protection programs for the poor. If they are not included in the database, they cannot avail of any program or service,” Jarabejo concluded. ###