Now that the implementing rules and regulation (IRR) of the law has been signed, Senator Win Gatchalian urges the government anew to use the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Act to ensure efficient distribution of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

Five million more poor families have been added to the list of beneficiaries who will receive the second wave of cash assistance under the national government’s SAP.

Beneficiaries of the second wave of financial assistance are indigent families living in areas under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), including Metro Manila.

Gatchalian said the CBMS law will correct inefficiencies in the past two months of SAP delivery and will ward off irregularities and corruption among local officials who will disburse the cash.

Since the inclusion of the new beneficiaries is subject for validation by the local government units (LGUs), Gatchalian said the CBMS law will be very helpful because it is a system that collects information on all households in the community that is LGU-based, starting at the barangay level.

Gatchalian, co-author of the law, said that with a community-based monitoring system the government will now be able to produce critical data required for more comprehensive poverty analysis and prioritization.

“This will be very useful in coming up with a targeted national program not only for poverty alleviation but also in times of disasters and crises, such as the coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic,” Gatchalian said.

Gatchalian himself witnessed the recent signing of the IRR of the CBMS Act with Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa, and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Marjorie Jalosjos at the PSA office.

The PSA takes the lead as the implementing agency of the CBMS. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is tasked to develop data-sharing arrangements between government agencies, while the DILG is responsible to disseminate information relating to the activities of the CBMS.