NSCB Resolution No. 6
Series of 2005

RECOGNIZING AND ENJOINING SUPPORT TO THE COMMUNITY-BASED MONITORING SYSTEM AS A TOOL TO STRENGTHEN THE STATISTICAL SYSTEM AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

WHEREAS, the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) as defined under Executive Order No. 121 Section 3 consists of the major statistical agencies, all ministries, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the national and local government and all government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries that are engaged in statistical activities either as their primary functions or as part of their administrative or regulatory functions.

WHEREAS, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) is mandated under Executive order No. 121 Section 5 to promote and maintain the efficiency of the Philippine Statistical System, formulate policies on all matters relating to all government statistical operations, and establish appropriate mechanism for statistical coordination at the regional, provincial and city levels;

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 135 mandated the NSCB to establish a well coordinated statistical system at the local level that is responsive to planning and monitoring requirements at the local level and capable of producing statistics that can be integrated and harmonized with statistics being produced at the national level;

WHEREAS, Section 2 of EO 135 also provides that the NSCB Regional Statistical Coordination Committees (RSCCs) shall serve as the link between the NSCB and local government units on statistical matters;

WHEREAS, since the 1990s, the International Development Research Center (IDRC)-Canada through Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies (MIMAP)-Project has supported the design and piloting of the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) in Asia;

WHEREAS, the CBMS in the Philippines is an organized way of collecting information at the local level for use of the local government unit (LGU), national government agencies, non-government organizations and civil society and also aims to assist local government units in the needs identification, policymaking and program implementation, and is expected to provide early warning signs of impending crises;

WHEREAS, the key features of the CBMS are as follows: it is LGU-based with emphasis on community participation; advocates a core set of indicators but flexible enough to accommodate additional indicators, establishes databanks for each geo-political level;, adopts a system of data validation process which is lacking in some monitoring systems and facilitates the identification of eligible beneficiaries;

WHEREAS, the CBMS taps local personnel to do the data collection, processing and analysis of data with cost sharing among the provincial, municipal and barangay LGUs, thus, promoting ownership of and responsibility on statistics produced;

WHEREAS, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has issued Memorandum Circular No. 2004-152 to the local chief executives, DILG Regional Directors and others concerned to guide local government units on the localization of Millennium Development Goals and recommended the use of existing systems on local poverty diagnosis and monitoring such as the CBMS, Minimum Basic Needs- Community Based Poverty Indicator Monitoring System (MBN-CBPIMS), Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP), Local Government Performance Measurement System (LGPMS) and other local monitoring tools for this purpose;

WHEREAS, the PSS had been requested to provide support to the CBMS in terms of: (1) rendering technical assistance to the LGUs through their regional and provincial offices; and (2) establishing coordination and setting standards to ensure that quality data are being recorded;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Board recognize the CBMS as a tool for strengthening the statistical system at the local level that will generate statistics for monitoring and evaluation of local development plans, including the progress of the local governments in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

BE IT RESOLVED FURTHER that the NSCB Technical Staff initiate and coordinate an advocacy program for the adoption of the CBMS by the LGUs, through the RSCCs, the technical arm of the NSCB Executive Board in the regions.

Approved this 24th day of January 2005, in Pasig City.

Attested by:

ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary-General