Privacy and protection of household’s data and personal information

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), uphold confidentiality of information and data privacy in the conduct of the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS). All city and municipal local governments that will implement the CBMS are enjoined to exercise the same level of commitment in ensuring that the CBMS data are protected, secured, and used for the right purpose.

In this privacy notice, the PSA enumerates all the steps that we take to make sure your data and your privacy are respected.

Why we collect household data and personal information

The CBMS is being implemented in the Philippines to:

a. generate updated and disaggregated data necessary in identifying beneficiaries for social protection programs of the government;
b. conduct more comprehensive poverty analysis and needs prioritization;
c. inform and contribute to evidence-based design of appropriate policies and interventions particularly on poverty alleviation and disaster risk reduction and management;
d. provide mechanism for government program impact monitoring over time;
e. provide information that will enable a system of public spending that warrants government allocation on areas and populace that are most wanting;
f. establish the CBMS database at the national and city/municipal levels that could be updated periodically to capture important snapshots of the demography of communities; and
g. generate relevant statistics at higher levels that will complement and supplement the local level data.

The PSA collects information through a questionnaire using the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) approach through an Android application developed for this purpose. The same data items are also in the paper questionnaire which may be utilized in cases when the CAPI cannot be used. The regular and synchronized conduct of the CBMS is every three (3) years.

The questionnaires used to collect household data can be accessed through this link.

The CBMS also undertakes geotagging activities to record status of government projects, housing units, service facilities, and natural resources.

In cases of feedback provided, personal details will be collected but will not be shared with anyone else. The feedback will be used to improve PSA procedures, products, and services.

Who can access CBMS information

During the CBMS field operations, the PSA and LGUs will employ enumerators or interviewers, data processors and area supervisors, who will have access to the data and will work under the instruction of the Head CBMS Area Supervisors who are employed by and will work under the close supervision of PSA provincial offices.

After the data files are validated and verified, the PSA will give the city/municipal LGUs and provincial LGUs access to their territory-specific data in accordance with Section 8 of RA No. 11315.

Pursuant to Section 9 of RA No. 11315, national government agencies with social protection programs will also be given access to certain data needed for their identification of beneficiaries. The extent of data that will be shared to them shall undergo a review and approval process by the CBMS Council, which is composed of the PSA, DILG and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Anonymized datasets and aggregate statistics will be readily accessible to public users and researchers.

In the CBMS portal, documented uses of the CBMS data will be published.

How long will CBMS personal data be kept

RA No. 10173 requires that personal information be kept for no longer than is needed to fulfill the purposes for which they were originally collected. Nevertheless, the CBMS data must be kept for long periods of time in order to serve the purpose of analyzing the impacts of government projects and interventions to households and communities over time.

The CBMS will implement measures to withhold certain information that are not needed by NGAs and other data users. Further, the PSA is mandated to keep all the CBMS data as the national repository of poverty data and shall need these data for official statistical purposes.

The PSA shall keep these datasets in electronic format with personal information in the National CBMS Databank permanently in order to achieve the objectives of the CBMS Act and for official statistics purposes. LGUs will keep the datasets in electronic format for six (6) years or until such time these data are found to be of no use in poverty alleviation. But accomplished paper questionnaires will be retained, archived, and destroyed in accordance with PSA policy for retention of accomplished questionnaires.

Your rights as household respondent

Section 10 of RA No. 11315 recognizes that “the right to privacy of every respondent remains inviolable.” As a data subject or as a respondent to the household interview in the CBMS, you may refuse to participate in the survey, refuse to answer any question or reveal any information at any point, or terminate data collection activities with no further action needed. You may choose to respond to the CBMS but opt not to share such information to NGAs with social protection programs.

Participation in the conduct of the CBMS is purely voluntary. Agreeing to be interviewed means that the respondent is willing to provide data to PSA, and the local government unit (LGU) for official statistics purposes. Moreover, agreeing to sign the waiver/consent form means that the respondent is giving permission to the PSA and LGU to share their personal information and that of their household members’ to national government agencies (NGAs) with social protection programs that can benefit the local communities. Data provided to the CBMS will also be used by PSA and entities that are permitted by the CBMS Council to carry out research and produce statistics that will serve the public good.

You also have rights available to you under the Data Privacy Act of 2012. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, kindly send a message or letter to the PSA Data Protection Officer and the city/municipal LGU Data Protection Officer.

You can contact the PSA Data Protection Officer through:
Telephone number: (632) 8938-5273
E-mail address: dpo@psa.gov.ph or dpsu@psa.gov.ph
22nd Flr., PSA Headquarters
PSA Complex, East Avenue, Diliman
Quezon City, 1101