A whopping 80% poverty incidence was posted in the municipality of Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte. This figure made the said municipality poorest among all municipalities in Zamboanga Peninsula.

Data shows that 6,391 out of the 7,981 households that were assessed by the Listahanan, a project under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), were identified poor in the said area.

During the first assessment conducted by the Listahanan in 2009, Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte was reported as the poorest among all municipalities in the region with 90% poverty incidence. As of the latest assessment, this figure significantly dropped down to 77% putting the said municipality second to Sibuco. Third poorest municipality is Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur with 71% poverty incidence.

“After we have identified the poor households during the 2009 assessment, several social protection stakeholders have requested to utilize the Listahanan database to serve as their basis in identifying their potential beneficiaries. This really helped in our efforts in poverty alleviation,” DSWD-IX Regional Director, Atty. Araceli F. Solamillo said in a statement.

In Region IX, a total of 364,723 households were identified as poor by the Listahanan. The assessment used the Proxy Means Test (PMT) models to estimate the per capita income of the households. DSWD found that 52% of the 704,872 households in the region have annual per capita income less than the poverty threshold reported by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) for 2015.

Significantly, there is also a decrease in the poverty incidence of the entire region from 61.54% in 2009 versus 51.74% in 2015.

DSWD will officially launch the regional Listahanan database in June 2016.