The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as the lead agency to implement the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), per Republic Act 11135 also known as the CBMS Act, held its first council meeting last 14 August 2020 via videoconference. The virtual meeting was presided by CBMS Council Chair, National Statistician and Civil Registar General, Usec. Dennis S. Mapa, Ph.D, and attended by the council member representatives Dir. Anna Liza F. Bonagua, CESO III from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Dir. Maria Teresa M. Garcia and Dir. Antonio Edward E. Padre from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and other officials and staff from DICT, DILG and PSA.

The CBMS Council in the said organizational meeting was ushered into reviewing what the CBMS was and is prior the CBMS Act and what it will be under the Act, the CBMS Council terms of reference, and other salient features of the Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). The proposed general plan and timetable of activities for CBMS for 2020 and 2021 and the corresponding proposed Council work program and policy agenda for the same period were likewise discussed. The tentative list of data items for the enhanced CBMS questionnaires based on initial evaluations of requests and suggestions of stakeholders was also presented.

In the pipeline of activities for this year is the pre-test of the enhanced survey instruments in October. Also this year, PSA targets to complete the development of CBMS operational framework and the overall plan for the survey roll out in 2021 or in 2022 (depending on budget approval), enhancement of the CBMS survey instruments, and the development of standard CBMS protocol for the national roll out.

In addition, the PSA has been engaging with the CBMS Network, and the United Nations Development Programme for possible CBMS resources sharing; with the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI) and with the DILG for partnerships on capacity building for the LGUs; and with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on the Listahanan data items and the transitioning from Listahan to CBMS. PSA engagement with DICT for the needed infrastructure for national databank that will be used for the pilot CBMS in 2021 is also ongoing.

Way forward, the CBMS questionnaires - the Household Profile Questionnaire with computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) application and the Barangay Profile Questionnaire with computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) application, and all relevant operations manuals are envisioned for next year. The capacity-building plan and operational framework are also included in the deliverables for 2021. These initiatives will undergo recommendation and approval of the CBMS Council as stipulated in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of CBMS Act.

The IRR of the CBMS Act was signed last 20 May 2020. Read here: https://psa.gov.ph/content/ceremonial-signing-cbms-act-irr

For more information about the CBMS, you my visit the PSA website: www.psa.gov.ph. Watch out for #PSACBMS as we deliver more information to you.

-Office of the National Statistician