The city government through the City Planning and Development Coordinator (CPDC) appeals anew to all residents to participate in the ongoing community-based monitoring system (CBMS) activity to enable the Dalipe administration to more effectively identify and prioritize plans, programs, policies and initiatives for Zamboanga.
“It is important for everyone to cooperate in this data-gathering activity as we aim to make public service evidence-based, targeted, and more effective,” acting assistant city planning officer and concurrent CBMS focal person Jessie Christopher Lapinid said during yesterday’s press briefing at City Hall.
CBMS, according to the city official, is essentially a [localized] census that aims to generate comprehensive household and barangay profiles for poverty analysis, planning, targeted programming, and impact monitoring.
He further added that enumerators hired by the government are currently conducting house-to-house visitations to collect household information ranging from their economic status, access to basic services, nutrition, sanitation, to disaster vulnerability.
Aware of the public’s concerns over how the project can expose participants to privacy hazards given the breadth and sensitivity of the data being gathered, Lapinid gave the assurance that enumerators are highly trained at handling sensitive personal information with utmost confidentiality and protection.
“We acknowledge the concern of the public on data privacy. The project guarantees that the CBMS Act of 2019 complies with the data privacy principles with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) [in] ensuring the security and protection of collected personal information,” the city official said.
Republic Act No. 11315, otherwise known as the CBMS Act of 2019, directs all cities and municipalities to conduct CBMS activities every three (3) years.
The same law designates the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as the lead agency in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), DICT, and the local government unit. (Claudine Uniana)