The National Household Targeting Unit (NHTU) officially completed the assessment of 1,329 households last October 10 during the conduct of On-Demand Application (ODA) in Isabela City, Basilan.

According to the Regional Field Coordinator (RFC), Michael D.S. Mustafa, “Eighty-seven percent (87%) or 1,522 of the target households were met.”

Twenty-one (21) barangays were involved during the data-gathering with Barangay Sumagdang (193) having the most number of households  assessed. It was followed by Lanote (183), San Rafael (122), Kaumpurnah Zone II (101), and Lampinigan Island  (91).

Mustafa added that “the assessment went easier than expected” since the unit prior to the said activity coordinated with the mayor of Isabela City together with the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), Social Welfare and Development Team (SWADT), city links, and barangay officials.

Immediately after the completion of ODA assessment, the encoding of Household Assessment Forms (HAFs) followed last October 24. Meanwhile, it is expected to be completed within 15 days. “As of now, 721 HAFs were already encoded out of 1,329 HAFs and we’re targeting to finish the encoding by November 10,” said Mustafa.

During the second round of assessment conducted by Listahanan in 2015, the National Household Targeting Office (NHTO) recorded 260,118 Exclusion (EX) 02 complaints during the Validation Phase. According to NHTO, the number included households who were away on a long vacation and those not visited by an enumerator during the Data Collection Phase. The reasons could have been their locations were not classified as pockets of poverty (in the case of urban dwellers) or there were ongoing or intermittent armed conflict, time and fiscal constraints during the collection of data. In Isabela City,  1,522 households filed for requests to be included in the special validation.

At present, the NHTO looks forward to officially close the Listahanan 2 database and generate the final list of poor households that will be shared to social protection stakeholders as their primary reference of potential beneficiaries (for protection programs and services). The data generated from ODA will be incorporated in the said database and will also be utilized in coming up with the national profile of the poor. Furthermore, the Listahanan data may also be used in planning, validation, and research among others.