Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11315)
The short title of Republic Act No. 11315 is the "Community-Based Monitoring System Act."
The primary policy objective is to free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, deliver a rising standard of living, promote full employment, and improve the quality of life for all. It specifically aims to establish a system of public spending that allocates government resources to areas and populations most in need.
CBMS refers to an organized technology-based system of collecting, processing, and validating disaggregated data used for planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring at the local level. It involves census of households by LGUs with community participation using accelerated poverty profiling, geo-tagging, and integration with national data collection methodologies.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is the lead agency responsible for the implementation of the CBMS.
The PSA's functions include setting standards, developing and reviewing data collection forms, capacitating LGUs, monitoring data collection, acting as the national repository of poverty data, processing poverty data, generating higher-level poverty statistics, and performing other necessary functions for implementation.
Data collection shall be conducted regularly and synchronized every three (3) years by every city and municipality. LGUs may collect data at shorter intervals at their own expense for local purposes.
Participation is voluntary, and respondents have the right to refuse to answer any question, reveal information, or terminate the data collection at any point without consequence. They must also be informed about the nature and extent of data processing, respecting their privacy rights.
The Act mandates that the right to privacy of every respondent is inviolable. Respondents must be informed about data processing, and their identity is kept confidential. Data collection must respect data protection principles, and unauthorized access to data is prohibited.
The DICT is tasked to develop institutional arrangements on data-sharing, while the DILG is responsible for regularly disseminating information related to CBMS activities.
The CBMS Oversight Committee sets the overall framework to review the implementation of the Act, identifies weaknesses, and recommends remedies. It is composed of 14 members: the Chairpersons of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation of the House and the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development of the Senate as Co-chairpersons, and six members from each House designated by their respective leaders.