The Philippines is a disaster-prone nation that experiences several calamities each year that cause severe damage, especially in the Visayas region. Because of this, National Government Agencies (NGAs), Local Government Units (LGUs), and other sectors created several social protection programs to help the greatly disaster-affected families. One of these LGU is the Cebu Province, headed by Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia.

Due to the crisis that affected everyone, in 2023, the Cebu Province initiated the Sugbo Merkadong Barato Program (SMBP), which is geared 6towards helping the effects of inflation by providing access to affordable products like fruits, vegetables and most especially rice for poor households.

“When Gov. Garcia established the Sugbong Merkadong Barato Program, it is actually designed to help the Cebuanos with the impact of inflation, so ang nangyayari is we have to identify the poorest of the poor dito sa Cebu and considering the different political interventions in identifying the poor in the entire province, nahihirapan po kaming kumuha kasi iba yung data nila at probably iba din yung data sa current at previous nila (administration). So what we did was, Gov. Garcia approved to use the DSWD Listahanan (data) to make it easier for us to identify knowing na meron napo kayong data sa lahat ng LGU sa entire province,” Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy said, a provincial department head of Cebu Province.

According to Dr. Vincoy, using the Listahanan 3 data made it easier for them to get the names and information of the poor household included as recipients of the SMB Program, who received the QR coded cards that they used to purchase affordable rice.

“Lahat ng nakalista sa Listahanan 3 data, which was close to 200,000 poor households in the province, ay binigyan ng QR cards. Kung sino yung nakalista sa Listahanan, yun ang pinrint namin sa QR cards dahil bawal ang replacement (All the poor households listed in the Listahanan 3 data, which is close to 200,000 were given the QR cards. The name that was listed there is the same name we printed in the QR cards because we never allow any replacements),” said Dr. Vincoy.

The province of Cebu complied with the requirements to use the most recent DSWD data, the Listahanan 3 data. These requirements include the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by the Cebu Provincial Governor; the approved Sangguniang Bayan (SB) Resolution, giving authority for the governor to sign the MOA with DSWD on behalf of the provincial government of Cebu; and the name of a lawyer from the provincial legal office as a Data Privacy Officer (DPO) that will handle data privacy when it comes to Listahanan.

Dr. Vincoy acknowledged the significance of using the Listahanan data, particularly in planning their allocated funds.

“The Listahanan (data) has guided us in implementing specific programs. Like, ito lang yung  pondo natin, ito yung total numbers of households, so ito yung magiging approach natin (This is only our funds; these are the households, so this will be our approach). Thus, we were able to make adjustments. So definite, yung goals natin na at the end of the day you will be able to reach that inclusive sector that needs our services.” Dr. Vincoy said.

“The Listahanan (data) improved the social welfare programs and at the onset or in the middle of a calamity, you are starting a critical program kasi kailangan ng isang sector. Kung meron ng nakastandby na data, di mo na kailangan na iconsolidate mo pa lahat na coming from different LGUs, lalo na sa Cebu na we have 53 (cities and municipalities). You need to consolidate all of that information at a certain specific time. Mas mahirap kung meron kang timeline. But if there is already ready data. We can use that. So less hassle and at the same time fewer biases, kasi we can say that galing yan sa DSWD so walang political intervention kasi there is a design, (using the proxy means test, that identifies) these are really the poorest of the poor,” Dr. Vincoy added.

Under the SMB program, the Cebu Provincial Government spent 100 million pesos and bought rice from NFA for Php 25 per kilo and sold it to qualified beneficiaries for Php 20 per kilo using the QR-coded cards. The provincial government monitored the beneficiaries to purchase a maximum of 5 kilos only per week. These beneficiaries from Listahanan 3 data were distributed equitably to 44 municipalities, 6 component cities and a highly urbanized city. It may have cost the province, but they welcomed this loss to make the lives of Cebuanos easier.

The Listahanan or National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), is a database management system of DSWD that identifies who and where these poor are through household assessment. It was the 3rd round of Listahanan assessment, thus called L3 or Listahanan 3.

The first Listahanan or L1 was conducted in 2009 and was updated every four years. The L2 was conducted in 2015. The results of the assessment have been used by different programs and services of the department in identifying potential beneficiaries like Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), among others. ###

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