MALATE, Manila—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MIMAROPA recommences the encoding activities for the validation results of the Listahanan 3^rd round assessment (L3).

A total of 56 encoding staff were hired to administer these two-month activities targeting 123 thousand household assessment forms (HAFs).

“During this stage, all household assessment forms are encoded into a data entry application that passes through validation routines to check for data inconsistencies and incomplete entries which will then be endorsed for proxy means testing,” said Information Technology Officer Edwin L. Ibo.

Proxy Means Test (PMT) is a statistical model that estimates household welfare level based on observable and verifiable proxy indicators of the household’s income such as materials in housing structure, household’s access to basic services, and facilities such as water and electricity, and ownership of specific assets among others.

The PMT estimated household income is compared to the existing provincial threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Households with income falling below the poverty threshold are considered poor while households whose income are above the threshold are tagged as not poor.

The result of L3 is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2022.

Furthermore, the Department ensures that the minimum health protocols such as wearing of face mask, face shield, frequent handwashing, and imposition of social distancing are being observed in the work station of the encoders to avoid possible transmission.

Listahanan is a mechanism to identify who and where the poor are nationwide and is used as a basis for the selection of potential beneficiaries of the government’s various social protection programs and services. ###