ILOILO CITY - Thirty local government units (LGUs) from Western Visayas, composed of two component cities and 28 municipalities, will join the first batch of the 2022 Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) officially rolled out by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday night.

National Statistician and PSA Director-General, Undersecretary Dennis Mapa, in his virtual message during the regional launch here, said the CBMS would allow the collection of a "comprehensive set of data" from households in participating LGUs.

"Local and national government agencies that offer social protection program will be able to accurately identify their beneficiaries," Mapa said.

Interior and Local Government Operations Officer Hershe Pausa, who joined the launch, said the data would be very helpful for LGUs when they craft their Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Comprehensive Development Plan.

"During these formulations, LGUs would propose programs, projects, and activities for their constituents and with these data, they will utilize the CBMS in order to create (a) responsive plan of action," she said.

PSA 6 (Western Visayas) Officer-in-Charge Director Nelida Amolar, in an interview on Tuesday, said the PSA would fund the conduct of the CBMS in 10 LGUs while the other 20would befinanced by their local governments.

"The qualified respondent is an adult who knows everything about the household. This is somewhat like a census enumeration or data collection that will cover all barangays of the participating LGUs," Amolar said.

The interview will take two to three hours for the 38-page back-to-back questionnaire per household.

But because enumerators will be using tablets, there will be skipping patterns.

The information that will be gathered will include the demographic characteristics and various aspects of life and living conditions of households, educational background, sources of income, health conditions and disabilities, community participation, source of water, sanitation and hygiene practices, agricultural and fisheries activities, food consumption expenditure, financial inclusion, membership in social protection programs, structures and materials for dwelling units, and disaster preparedness practices. (PNA)