CHALLENGES OF THE

COMMUNITY BASED MONITORING SYSTEM

FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION: BASIS FOR
A PROPOSED ACTION PLAN

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the
College of Arts and Sciences
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.
Lucena City

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts in Economics
Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency
And Accreditation Program

RODINA O. PANGANIBAN

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 INTRODUCTION

Poverty is one of the perennial problems that all local government units in the

Philippines had to deal with. The Second Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey, done on

June 23-26, 2017, found 44% (est. 10.1 million) of families considering themselves as

“Mahirap” or Poor. This is 6 points below the 50% (est. 11.5 million) in March 2017.

Prior to this decline, the Self-Rated Poor proportion had a sharp increase to 50% in

March 2017. Before this, it had been either steady or declining for nine consecutive

quarters, from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2016.

Still, the magnitude of poverty is immobile and in order to significantly reduce this,

an honest-to-goodness national effort combating the root causes of poverty should be

sustained.

Anti-poverty programs and projects, including delivery of social services, for the

poor and vulnerable are continuously being implemented. At present, the Philippine

government under the Duterte administration has focused its pro-poor interventions on

reducing hunger through an accelerated hunger mitigation program as well as continuing

programs for low-cost medicines, subsidized rice, scholarships for poor but deserving

students, health insurance for indigent families, among others.

Meeting the requirements for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will entail

collaborative efforts among major stakeholders - the national and local government units

(LGUs) as well as the private sector in implementing interventions geared toward

mainstreaming the SDGs in the local development agenda.

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 Answering this need, the Dept. of Interior and Local Government under SDC

Resolution #1 issued in 2005 was tasked to localize the SDGs (formerly Millennium

Development Goals or MDGs. DILG adopted and implemented the Community Based

Monitoring System (CBMS) as MDG Benchmarking and monitoring system to monitor

LGU performance on poverty reduction. CBMS aims to provide local policymakers and

program implementers with evidence-based information that will guide them in the

delivery of services to the marginalized sectors of our society in the local level.

These perennial questions can only be answered through a systematic poverty

monitoring and diagnostic process and tool. The Community-Based Monitoring System

(CBMS) is one such tool. This paper evaluates on how the CBMS is being utilized as a

local poverty monitoring tool on targeting beneficiaries for various poverty alleviation

program of the Municipality of Buenavista, Quezon.

The basic concern of this academic study is to present the effectiveness of

Community Based Monitoring System on targeting beneficiaries for poverty alleviation

programs of the Municipality of Buenavista, Quezon under the administration of Mayor

Remedios U. Rivera.

Background of the Study

Buenavista is a third-class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines.

According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 30,047 people. Piris was its former

name. It was a mere hamlet of the municipality of Guinanyagan, province of Quezon and

remained as such for quite a number of years until it finally became a municipality.

Buenavista is now its official name which means beautiful view. Its original name was Piri

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as engraved in the oldest church bell which was donated by one Don Jose Casal in the year

1866. It used to be located in the Sitio of Pinagbayanan situated in the western side of the

Piris River which is about one a half kilometers away from the present town site.

This place became the choice of the founders who were a mixture of Bicolanos and

Visayans to enable them to easily escape the Moro raids that were prevalent during the

olden times. When the raids finally subsided, the barrio of Piris was transferred to its

present location. The word “Piri” was changed to Piris and later re-changed to

Piris.[citation needed]

Buenavista has a land area of 16,113 hectares and is situated on the Bondoc

Peninsula. At present It is a third class municipality. Its population is 30,047 as per latest

official census and it has 37 barangays. Its climate is classified as type 3 which means the

rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year. The main dialect is Filipino, although the

Bicolanos, Visayan and Ilocano dialect are being commonly used in the barangays.

In the month of October 1936, some civic minded natives launched the proposition

of making the place a municipality. The residents signed a petition for the separation of

Piris from the municipality of Guinayangan. A group of seven members was formed and

was commissioned to undertake a delegation to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior

for the purpose. The group was composed of then Don Feliciano Roldan, Mariano San

Jose, Honorio Hutamares, Teodorico Dosto, Ciriaco Parraba and atty. Antonio Pasta and

Francisco San Jose. The outbreak of the second global war marked the failure of the offices

concerned to convert the place into a regular municipality.

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 After the election of Gaudencio V. Vera to the Office of the Congressman for the

second district of Quezon Province, Mr. Francisco San Jose, a native and public teacher of

the place, was instructed by Congressman Vera to help prepare the necessary papers

pertaining to the separation of Piris from Guinayangan. When the papers were prepared,

House Bill No. 83 which was sponsored by the energetic solon was passed by both House

of Congress and became Republic Act No. 495 under Proclamation No. 201 of his

Excellency, President Elpidio Quirino, the corporate existence of Piris in the name

buenavista the 37th municipality of Quezon province, was fixed on the 26th day of August,

1950. A pompous inauguration was celebretad by the town people under the leadership of

Domingo Reyes and late Mr. Yao Ching Kio, wealthy businessman of the place, with

Congressman Vera as the guest of honor. When the municipality of Buenavista was

inaugurated on August 26, 1950,it belonged to the seventh class. Six month thereafter, due

to some increase in revenue, it rose to sixth class. Late Francisco Falqueza was appointed

Municipal Mayor and held office beginning August 26, 1950 up to December 31, 1951 and

on November 13, 1951 local election Primitivo Pasta Sr. becoming the first elected mayor.

The Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Network is part of the Poverty

and Economic Policy (PEP) Network supported by the International Development

Research Centre (IDRC) Canada through its Globalization, Growth and Poverty (GGP)

Initiative, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Australian

Agency for International Development (AusAID).

Launched in 2002, the CBMS network generally aims to assist its members

develop, refine and institutionalize community-based monitoring systems in developing

countries, and to promote CBMS knowledge and initiatives internationally. Furthermore,

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the Network promotes evidence-based policymaking, program design and implementation

while empowering local communities to participate in the process (Reyec, 1996).

CBMS was initially designed and pilot-tested in the early 1990s under the Micro

Impacts of Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) Program as a tool to monitor

and provide evidence on the impacts of various economic reforms and policy shocks at the

local level. Over the years, the development of CBMS has facilitated its use for evidence-

based local planning, poverty diagnosis, monitoring the millennium development goals,

program targeting and impact monitoring among others.

From its initial adoption by the Provincial Government of Palawan in the year 2000,

CBMS is now being implemented by local government units in 68 provinces (32 of which

are province-wide) covering 799 municipalities, 63 cities and 21,562 barangays.

Today, the CBMS has been adopted by the National Anti-Poverty Commission

(NAPC) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the local poverty

monitoring system and as a tool for localizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

in the country. Efforts are underway with the help of national government agencies, local

government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and donor agencies to

scale up the implementation of the CBMS.

The completion installation of CBMS in Buenavista, Quezon was a collaborative

effort of the Municipal Government of Buenavista under the leadership of then-Mayor now

Vice-Mayor Remedios U. Rivera through the Municipal Mayor’s Office, the local City

Planning and Development Office and the local Dept. of Interior and National Government.

These stakeholders had earlier been concerned about the adoption of the system for

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addressing progress in the locality for its development efforts and immediately considered

the CBMS technology.

On the local level, targeting beneficiaries for poverty alleviation programs of the

Municipality of Buenavista under the administration of Buenavista Mayor Alex Rivera was

made easier through the use of a poverty analysis tool. Because of the quick initiative of

the administration to complete the installation of the project, CBMS have been formally

institutionalized and comprehensively utilized in targeting beneficiaries on identified

poverty alleviation program of the Municipality of Buenavista.

This study will emphasize the effectiveness of CBMS as an evidence-based tool

for prioritizing programs and projects that will contribute to the achievement of the MDGs

in our locality. Furthermore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Community

Based Monitoring System on targeting the beneficiaries of poverty alleviation programs in

Buenavista, Quezon.

Objectives

The purpose of this research paper will be to evaluate the effectiveness of

Community Based Monitoring System on targeting beneficiaries for poverty alleviation

programs of the Municipality of Buenavista, Quezon. The specific research questions

addressed in this paper will be the following:

1. Identify the challenges in the implementation of CBMS in terms of:

1.1 Equipment

1.2 Economic

1.3 Data collection

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 1.4 Ecological/Environmental

1.5 Geographical condition

2. Design a proposed action plan to address the identified challenges.

Input Process Output

1.

2. LGU
utilization
3. Analysis of
of the
4. CBMS effectivenes Proposed
census s of using Action
5. CBMS Plan
census
6.

7.

LGU’s implementors of
anti-poverty initiaves

FEEDBACK
8.

Schematic Diagram of the Conceptual Framework

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 METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The researcher will use questionnaires for this study. The questionnaires will be

administered. Quantitative data will be used for measuring the challenges in the

implementation of the Community Based Monitoring System. The method of collecting

data will be a data checklist needed.

Population and Sampling

The researcher used non-randomized or judgment quota sampling for thirty (30)

Local Government Unit’s anti-poverty program implementers. They are consists of

selected barangay captains and the Municipal Government’s departmental heads.

Materials and Procedures

The researcher prepared a questionnaire as a primary tool in data gathering. The researcher

relied on books, magazines, premiers, newspaper, and other related sources pertinent to her study.

Verbal interviews were also conducted to establish the credibility of her study and confirm some

thoughts of the researcher.

Data Analysis

The researcher will use simple percentage formula, and the frequency distribution in the

collection and interpretation of the data gathered.

a. A simple percentage Method

% = F x 100

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 where =

f = frequency

% = percentage

n = number of respondents

b. Weighted Mean Method

XM = Ef (w)

where = E = summation

F = frequency

W = weight per option

n = number of respondents

XM = weighted mean

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