Baybay City: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 8 (Eastern Visayas) has initiated an effort to bring awareness of the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) to academic institutions, emphasizing its role in providing essential data for empowering impoverished communities.

According to Philippines News Agency, the initiative will commence with a CBMS information campaign hosted by PSA and the Community-Based Statistics Services at the Visayas State University in Baybay City on March 28. Maria Purisima Estolano, the PSA regional information officer, highlighted the importance of introducing CBMS to academia, aiming to engage future professionals in the fields of data and statistics.

Estolano explained, "We want the academe to appreciate numbers. These are not just numbers since behind these data are people and their situation." The campaign also aims to garner public support, encouraging active participation from stakeholders in CBMS surveys and population censuses.

The PSA plans to extend the awareness drive to other state universities and colleges, contingent on budget availability. The CBMS data, collected through household surveys, focuses on household status to identify beneficiaries for social protection programs targeting poverty alleviation and economic development.

CBMS is described as a technology-based system for collecting, processing, and validating disaggregated data. This system is used for planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring at the local level, empowering communities to engage in the process. Mandated under Republic Act 11315, the system generates data at the local level, serving as a basis for household targeting in government programs focused on poverty alleviation and economic development.