Posted on by Jaymante Pearl Apilado

(From left to right) NHTU Statistician II Ryan Arbollente, NHTU Admin. Asst. III for Budget Sharon Lentija, and NHTU Admin. Asst. III for Information Jaymante Pearl Apilado assess households in Brgys. Davila and Naglicuan, Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte.
(From left to right) NHTU Statistician II Ryan Arbollente, NHTU Admin. Asst. III for Budget Sharon Lentija, and NHTU Admin. Asst. III for Information Jaymante Pearl Apilado assess households in Brgys. Davila and Naglicuan, Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte.

Since the second phase (Data Collection and Analysis Phase) of household assessment headed by the National Household Targeting Unit (NHTU) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development – Field Office 1 (DSWD – FO1) is ending soon, the NHTU Regional Field Coordinator Joan Nuesca with other NHTU staff assisted Pasuquin Area Supervisor Sharon Bulosan and the enumerators in assessing households at Brgy. Davila and Brgy. Naglicuan of Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte.

“We need to work together and finish the assessment here in Pasuquin. Remember that we are not just working; we are also helping our country in creating the data base of poor families in need of social protection programs,” Ms. Nuesca said.

Data Collection and Analysis phase involves home visits to collect basic information of family members using the Family Assessment Forms (FAFs), android tablets with a FAF data entry application installed in them, and Barangay Community Characteristics (BCC) Form.

To date, 91.79% of the 928,633 total target households in Region 1 were already assessed by the NHTU Field Staff. In particular, 493,024 households were assessed in Pangasinan, 142,020 in La Union, 124,595 in Ilocos Sur, and 92,802 in Ilocos Norte.

Out of the nine cities and 116 municipalities of Region 1, only the Municipality of Pasuquin and the City of Laoag in Ilocos Norte are still working on finishing the enumeration this month of August.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Arbollente, even though most of the municipalities and cities of Region 1 are done with the assessment, the Area Coordinators of the 15 cities/municipalities are still settling their transmitted FAFs in order to come up with the final number of households assessed in their area of assignment.

After the assessment, the information collected and encoded will be endorsed for Proxy Means Test (PMT) processing that will estimate the income of families classified into poor and non-poor.

The initial list of poor families will be posted in public areas in the barangay and community for the validation phase come September or October. Those who were not visited during the assessment will have a chance to appeal and be assessed.

Further, the Local Verification Committee formed in each city/municipality will handle any complaints and questions regarding the soon to be posted initial list of poor households.

(by: Jaymante Pearl B. Apilado, Administrative Assistant III, NHTS-PR/Listahanan)