Province of Romblon - UNDP in the Philippines

Province of ROMBLON 

Philippines Fourth Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals using CBMS Data - Province of Province of Marinduque 

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Status Report on the 

Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs) 

Using CBMS Data 

Province of Romblon

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Province of Romblon 

Foreword 

Republic of the Philippines 

PROVINCE OF ROMBLON 

OFFICE OF THE VICE-GOVERNOR 

I personally take recognition of the work and dedication spent by our 

Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Provincial Team in making this 

document, the Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using 

CBMS Data (Province of Romblon). 

This report gives every reader the 2007 general situation of the province of 

Romblon and its municipalities vis-à-vis their achievement of the Millennium 

Development Goals. It presents not only the threats and weaknesses we have 

as a community, but also the equivalents strengths and the opportunities we can pursue. 

Specifi cally, this report pictures to us how have we specially faired in the following eight (8) development 

goals set by the United Nations: 

1. Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger 

2. Achievement of universal primary education 

3. Promotion of gender equality and women empowerment 

4. Reduction of child mortality 

5. Improvement in maternal health 

6. Combat of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 

7. Ensuring environmental sustainability, and 

8. Developing a global partnership for development 

Towards the end of this report, the reader is led to the proposed programs, projects and activities, 

and their equivalent project costs. It also strongly suggests for the continuous updating of our CBMS. 

This document therefore can be a great resource for all development institutions, workers, and 

specially our local and national leaders whose love for the development of Romblon and its people 

is real, sincere and overfl owing. This can help them decide what programs, projects and activities will 

they commit to fund and undertake; how much fund and when will they give. 

Then we can be able to project what of these plans are achievable fi rst, until 2015, and then beyond. 

Again, sincere thanks to our Provincial Team, Dr. Celia Reyes and the PEP-CBMS Network, UNDP, 

NEDA-SDS, the municipal governments in the province, the provincial offi ces and agencies, and to 

all those who supported the preparation of this document. 

ALICE CAPA-FETALVERO 

Vice Governor 

Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data

Preface 

The province of Romblon is blest with abundant natural resources yet has difficulty 

harnessing development due to limiting factors such as being archipelagic in nature. 

Foremost in the agenda of the Local Development Councils is the eradication of poverty 

and upliftment of the socioeconomic conditions of all Romblomanons. To achieve this 

goal, we need massive financial resources and technical inputs to overcome our geophysical 

constraints. In our pursuit of the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs), aligning our meager resources in support of the universal development thrust 

will enable the province to respond meaningfully to the challenge. We particularly need 

to strengthen local governance and pass local legislations to effectively implement 

national policies. 

This report aims to present the status of the province and its component municipalities 

in terms of the MDG targets based on data generated from the first implementation of 

the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS). The data revealed that we have a 

very good performance in combating malnutrition and promoting gender equality. We 

need to maintain or even surpass what we have achieved so far while devising innovative 

strategies to improve on the other indicators which are lagging behind. There is a need 

for a concerted effort to engender a paradigm shift regarding the environment including 

climate change if we want an immediate response to reverse environmental loss. 

Poverty continued to be our vulnerability as majority of the population is below poverty 

threshold. This is our greatest challenge. With the MDG report, we believe that the Local 

Chief Executives and the Local Development Councils would realize the necessity to act 

now by prioritizing plans/programs/activities that would enable us to make a decent 

improvement in the lives of the people and make headways in achieving the MDG targets. 

OSCAR VICENTE L. YLAGAN, JR. 

Provincial Government Department Head 

Provincial Planning and Development Office 

Provincial Development Council Secretary 

Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data Province of Romblon 

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Acknowledgments 

It has been a great honor and opportunity that Romblon was among the nine provinces in 

the country chosen to participate in this laudable endeavor and come up with this document 

that shows our status on the Millennium Development Goals. The preparation of this report is 

made possible by the PEP-CBMS Network through the support of the United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP) and the National Economic and Development Authority-Social 

Development Staff (NEDA-SDS). 

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Dr. Celia Reyes and her Team in conceptualizing 

this project. We are also thankful for them in relentlessly providing us with technical 

assistance and coaching sessions in generating the MDG indicators. For their patience and 

understanding, and for being with us all the way, until we fi nish the report, we are heartily 

grateful. 

A million thanks also goes to the UNDP for supporting this undertaking and for the unique 

experience we encountered in preparing the report. 

Finally, we would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the Municipal Planning and 

Development Coordinators (MPDCs), the Municipal Health Offi cers (MHOs) and other provincial 

offi ces and agencies, in sharing with us their insights regarding data analysis at their 

areas of concern as well as their best practices. 

OSCAR VICENTE L. YLAGAN, JR. 

Provincial Government Dept. Head – PPDO 

CBMS Provincial Lead Person 

jylagan_ppdo@yahoo.com 

The CBMS Provincial Team 

EVELYN M. MAGAYAM GEMMA M. ETIS 

Planning Officer IV Project Evaluation Officer IV 

CBMS Focal Person CBMS TWG Member 

billy_ppdo@yahoo.com gem_ppdo@yahoo.com 

MELODINA M. VILLALUZ LIANY G. ROMERO 

Project Evaluation Officer III Planning Officer II 

CBMS TWG Member CBMS TWG Member 

mellie_ppdo@yahoo.com gian_phil@yahoo.com 


Message 

The preparation of provincial MDGs reports is a critical step that Local Government 

Units (LGUs) have taken in the overall effort to localize the MDGs. As it is 

often said, the MDGs will be ‘won or lost’ at the local level given the conditions 

of uneven progress and disparities across regions and provinces in the country. 

Beyond the national averages, one can see wide disparities on the gains 

in poverty reduction, universal education, child mortality and maternal health. 

This situation reinforces the notion that the progress of each province is just as 

important as the achievements of the country as a whole. After all, the Philippines’ 

progress towards the MDGs, is the sum of the efforts and gains of all LGUs. 

By preparing provincial reports, LGUs are provided vital information on 

the status of the MDGs in their areas of infl uence. These reports are important 

sources of information for planning, resource allocation and priority setting that LGUs are tasked 

under their mandate of effective local governance. Likewise, in the course of the preparation of the 

reports, the capacity of LGUs to collect, monitor and use data for decision making has been greatly 

enhanced. The reports also show how far the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) that 

UNDP has supported can go in terms of its use. 

Against the backdrop of renewed optimism emanating from the new political leadership, this fi rst 

set of nine Provincial Reports on the MDGs is a timely and important milestone. The reports provide 

crucial insights on how to overcome the constraints in achieving the MDGs locally as the country 

gears towards the last stretch to attain the eight goals by 2015. They also emphasize the important 

role of active collaboration of political leaders, stakeholders, and donors in achieving the MDGs. 

I wish to commend the nine Provincial Governments that prepared their reports – the Agusan 

del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Biliran, Camarines Norte, Eastern Samar, Marinduque, Romblon, Sarangani, 

and Siquijor Province – the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Network and 

the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for working together in bringing about 

this important accomplishment. 

With this initiative, it is hoped that other provinces will follow suit to attain nationwide support 

for the need to accelerate the pace of the achievement of the MDGs s by 2015. 

Dr. Dr Jacqueline Badcock 

UN Resident Coordinator and 

UNDP Resident Representative 


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Message 

Republic of the Philippines 

PROVINCE OF ROMBLON 

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR 

The Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs) by member states of the United Nations including the 

Philippine Government (PG) has posed a great challenge to the 

country and to the Local Government Units (LGUs) as well. At 

the onset, the absence of baseline data at the grass-root level 

and the lack of local monitoring tool to determine the status of 

the LGUs in terms of the MDG targets has been a hindrance 

in setting local targets. 

The Regional Development Council (RDC) Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) initiative to implement a 

common database system in the region and the subsequent implementation of the Community- 

Based Monitoring System (CBMS) in the Province of Romblon has proven to be a very provident 

endeavor. With CBMS, the availability of data at each geo-political level—barangay, municipality 

and province—has been a great help in our assessment of the demographic and socioeconomic 

condition of the province and its 17 component municipalities as well as the indicators monitored 

under the MDG. 

Since this is the first round of CBMS implementation in the province, we still cannot track our 

progress in attaining the MDGs. What we can offer instead is a glimpse of where we stand at 

present, and strive to contribute to the achievement of the national target. Our current status can 

also be our benchmark in monitoring the impacts of projects being implemented and gauge the 

effects of the general services provided aimed at improving the general welfare of our people. 

The province and its 17 component municipalities have agreed to update the CBMS database 

this 2010 and we are very optimistic that the data generated will provide us insights as to our 

response to MDG challenge as well as the impact of our services to the lives of our constituents. 

This will help us a lot in focusing our interventions to where and whom it is most needed. 

Hopefully, the preparation of the provincial MDG report can provide us with meaningful 

analysis not only on the MDG indicators but also on our general situation and shall be the 

basis in formulating development plans and strategies that would be responsive to achieve our 

objectives as well as the MDGs. The MDG Report will steer us s to our quest for a better fut future 

and will further aid us in our quest for a unified, self-reliant and ecologically-balanced ecologically-balanced province. provi 

v n 

NATALIO F. BELTRAN 

III 

Gover Governor 


Table of Contents 

Foreword Vice-Governor Alice Capa-Fetalvero .................................... 

Preface Provincial Government Department Head 

Oscar Vicente L. Ylagan, Jr. .................................................. 

Acknowledgments ...................................................................................... 

Messages UN Resident Coordinator Dr. Jacqueline Badcock ................. 

Governor Natalio F. Beltran III .................................................. 

Table of Contents ....................................................................................... 

List of Acronyms ........................................................................................ 

List of Tables .............................................................................................. 

List of Figures ............................................................................................ 

Executive Summary ............................................................................. 

Part I. Provincial Profile 

1. Brief Historical Background ............................................................... 

2. Geo-Physical Environment ................................................................. 

3. Population & Social Environment ....................................................... 

4. Local Economy ................................................................................... 

5. Infrastructure/Utilities/Facilities .......................................................... 

6. Local Institutional Capability ............................................................. 

Part II. Status Report on the 

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 

1. Goal 1 - Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger ....................................... 30 

2. Goal 2 - Achieve Universal Primary Education .......................................... 

3. Goal 3 - Promote Gender Equality .......................................................... 

.. 

4. Goal 4 - Reduce Child Mortality ............................................................. 

5. Goal 5 - Improve Maternal Health ......................................................... 


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6 

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9 

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13 

14 

22 

23 

24 

26 

27 

28 

41 

48 

55 

61 

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Table of Contents 

6. Goal 6 - Combat HIV / AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases .................................... 

7. Goal 7 - Ensure Environmental Sustainability ..................................................... 

8. Goal 8 - Develop Global Partnership for Development ........................................ 79 

Part III. Meeting the 2015 Challenge 

1. Priority Programs and Policy Responses ........................................................ 85 

2. Financing the MDGs ..................................................................................... 88 

3. Monitoring the MDGs ................................................................................... 

90 

Explanatory Text .............................................................................................. 91 

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ADP Annual Development Plan 

AHYD Adolescent Health & Youth Development 

AICS Aid in Crisis Situation 

ALS Alternative Learning Service 

BBB Buntis Baby Bank 

BEMONC Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care 

BHS Barangay Health Station 

BHW Barangay Health Workers 

BLR Botika ng Lalawigan ng Romblon 

BNB Botika ng Barangay 

BNS Barangay Nutrition Scholar 

CBFM Community-Based Forest Management 

CBMIS Community-Based Management Information System 

CBMS Community-Based Monitoring System 

CDA Cooperative Development Agency 

CEMONC Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care 

DepEd Department of Education 

DMFDH Don Modesto Formilleza District Hospital 

DOLE Department of Labor and Employment 

DSWD Department of Social Worker and Development 

EC European Commission 

ECCD Early Childhood Care & Development 

F1 FOURmula One 

FIC Fully Immunized Children 

GAD Gender and Development 

IAD/U Internal Audit Department/Unit 

ICMRM Integrated Coastal and Marine Resources Management 

IRA Internal Revenue Allotment 

IRS International Reference Standard 

ISF Integrated Social Forestry 

IT Information Technology 

LCE Local Chief Executive 

LDC Local Development Council 

LGU Local Government Unit 

MDG Millennium Development Goals 

MDH Malipayon District Hospital 

MHO Municipal Health Office 

MIMAROPA Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan 

MOA Memorandum of Agreement 

MPDC Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator 

List of Acronyms 


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List of Acronyms 

NEDA National Economic and Development Authority 

NGO Non Government Organization 

NPC National Power Corporation 

NSCB National Statistical Coordination Board 

OPT Operation Timbang 

OTELCO Odiongan Telephone Corporation 

PCS Provincial Communication System 

PEP Progressive Economic Policy 

PG Philippine Government 

PHIC/Phil-Health Philippine Health Insurance Corporation 

PHO Provincial Health Office 

PIPH Provincewide Investment Plan for Health 

PNAO Provincial Nutrition Action Officer 

PNC Provincial Nutrition Committee 

PPAN Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 

PPDO Provincial Planning and Development Office 

4Ps Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program 

PTWG Provincial Technical Working Group 

RDC Regional Development Council 

RDH Romblon District Hospital 

RHU Rural Health Unit 

RIC Rural Improvement Club 

ROMELCO Romblon Electric Cooperative 

RPH Romblon Provincial Hospital 

RSU Romblon State University 

RW3SP Rural Water Supply Sanitation Sector Program 

SEDIP Secondary Education Development & Improvement Program 

SEF Special Education Fund 

SPED Special Education 

SWMP Solid Waste Management Plan 

SUC State University/College 

SWMP Solid Waste Management Plan 

TB DOTS Tuberculosis Directly Observed Treatment Scheme 

TEEP Third Elementary Education Program 

TELOF Telecommunication Office 

TIDH Tablas Island District Hospital 

TIELCO Tablas Island Electric Cooperative 

UN United Nations 

UNDP United Nation Development Programme 

VAWC Violence Against Women and their Children 



List of Tables 

Table 1. Summary of Findings of MDG Indicators, Province of Romblon, 2007 

Table 2. Demographic Features, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 3. Number of Schools and Enrollment, SY 2007 – 2008 

Table 4. Participation and Completion Rate, SY 2007 – 2008 

Table 5. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living Below Poverty Threshold, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 6. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living Below Food Threshold, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 7. Poverty Gap Ratio, by Urbanity, by municipality, 2007 

Table 8. Employment Rate, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 9. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population who Experienced Food Shortage, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 10. Magnitude and Proportion of Underweight Children Under 5 years of Age, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 11. Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 6-12 Years Old Enrolled in Elementary School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 12. Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old Enrolled in High School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 13. Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 6-16 Years Old Enrolled in School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 14. Literacy Rate of 15-24 Year-Olds, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 15. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary Education, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 16. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary Education, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 17. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Tertiary Education, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 18. Ratio of Literate Females to Literate Males (15-24 years old), by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 19. Proportion of Seats Held by Women in Municipality and Province, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 20. Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 0 to Less than 5 Years Old who Died, by sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 21. Magnitude and Proportion of Infants who Died, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 22. Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 1 to Less than 5 Years Old who Died, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 23. Magnitude and Proportion of Women Deaths Due to Pregnancy-Related Causes, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 24. Magnitude and Proportion of Couples who Use Contraception, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 25. Magnitude and Proportion of Couples Using Condom Among Those who are Practicing Contraception, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 26. Magnitude and Proportion of Deaths Associated with Malaria, by Sex, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 27. Magnitude and Proportion of Deaths Associated with Tuberculosis, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 28. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population with Access to Safe Drinking Water, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 29. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population with Access to Sanitary Toilet Facility, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 30. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population who are Informal Settlers, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 31. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living in Makeshift Housing, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 32. Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living in Inadequate Housing Conditions, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


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List of Tables 

Table 33. Magnitude and Proportion of Households with Landlines/Telephone Lines, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 34. Magnitude and Proportion of Households with Cellphones, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 35. Magnitude and proportion of Households with Computers, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 

Table 36. Estimates of Funding Requirements 

Table 37. The CBMS-MDG Indicators and their Definition 

Table 38. Poverty and Food Thresholds 


Figure 1. Location of Romblon Province 

Figure 2. Proportion of Population Living Below Poverty Threshold 

Figure 3. Proportion of Population Living Below Food Threshold 

Figure 4. Poverty Gap Ratio 

Figure 5. Employment Rate 

Figure 6. Proportion of Population Who Experienced Food Shortage 

Figure 7. Prevalence of Underweight Children Under 5 Years of Age 

Figure 8. Proportion of Children Aged 6-12 Years Old Enrolled in Elementary School 

Figure 9. Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old Enrolled in High School 

Figure 10. Proportion of Children Aged 6-16 Years Old Enrolled in School 

Figure 11. Literacy Rate of 15-24 Years Olds 

Figure 12. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary Education 

Figure 13. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary Education 

Figure 14. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Tertiary Education 

Figure 15. Ratio of Literate Females to Literate Males Aged 15-24 Years Old 

Figure 16. Proportion of Seats Held by Women in Municipality and Province 

Figure 17. Proportion of Children 0 to Less than 5 Years Old who Died 

Figure 18. Proportion of Infants who Died 

Figure 19. Proportion of Children Aged 1 to Less than 5 Years Old who Died 

Figure 20. Proportion of Women Deaths Due to Pregnancy-Related causes 

Figure 21. Proportion of Couples who Use Contraception 

Figure 22. Proportion of Couples Using Condom Among Those who are Practicing 

Contraception 

Figure 23. Death Rates Associated with Malaria 

Figure 24. Death Rates Associated with Tuberculosis 

Figure 25. Proportion of Population with Access to Safe Drinking Water 

Figure 26. Proportion of Population with Access to Sanitary Toilet Facility 

Figure 27. Proportion of Population who are Informal Settlers 

Figure 28. Proportion of Population who are Living in Makeshift Housing 

Figure 29. Proportion of Population Living in Inadequate Housing Condition 

Figure 30. Proportion of Households with Landlines/ Telephone Lines 

Figure 31. Proportion of Households with Cellphones 

Figure 32. Proportion of Households with Computers 

Figure 33. CBMS Coverage in the Philippines (as of May 12, 2010) 

List of Figures 


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The endeavor to prepare a provincial 

MDG report was a result of a collaborative 

effort of the PEP-CBMS Network Coordinating 

Team, the Provincial Government of 

Romblon and the UNDP-Philippines which 

aims to track progress towards the achievement 

of MDGs in the province and create a 

document that would increase awareness of 

local stakeholders regarding the universal 

development thrust. 

The report utilized the result of the 2007 

CBMS survey and other administrative data. 

The result presented in this report suggested 

that there has been some good news, 

and not so good news in some indicators 

but there are those that pose a great 

challenge for the remaining five years until 

the 2015 target. Without doubt, there is 

a need for a concerted effort among all 

stakeholders, from the national down to 

the local level, to make urgent response to 

achieve the MDG targets that would make 

a better life for every person in the province. 

Good news: 

• Prevalence of underweight children 

under 5 years old was 8.12 percent which is 

already below the national target of 17.25 

percent by 2015. 

• Literacy rate among the 15-24 years 

old was high at 97.7 percent and was only 

2.3 percentage point away from the 100 

percent target. 

• Ratio of girls to boys in elementary is 

0.9 but this is due to the higher population 

of boys than girls. In high school and 

college, ratio is higher in favor of girls 

attending higher education at 1.0 and 1.1 

respectively. 

• Ratio of literate females to males age 

15-24 years old is lower at 0.9 accounting 

for the higher male population than females 

in this age group. 

• No HIV/AIDs case in the province. 

• The proportion of informal settlers in 

the population was low at 1.3 percent and 

those living in makeshift housing was 2.1 

percent. 

Not so good news: 

• Proportion of population who experienced 

food shortage was minimal at 3.0 

percent. 

• Employment rate was high at 97.7 

percent although employment opportunities 

provide low economic returns. 

• Poverty gap ratio was moderate at 0.3. 

• Proportion of children’s death at age 0 

to less than five years old was 0.6 percent, 

infants at 1.8 percent and those 1 to less 

than 5 years old was 0.8 percent. 

• Proportion of women deaths due to 

pregnancy related causes was 0.2 percent. 

• Proportion of population with access to 


safe drinking water was 76.3 percent and 

the proportion of population with access 

to sanitary toilet facilities was 71.4 percent. 

• Proportion of households with landlines/ 

telephone lines was a meager 1.2 percent 

but this is due to the province’s geophysical 

characteristics. 

• Proportion of population with cellular 

phones was 27.0 percent but increasing. 

• Proportion of population with computers 

was low at only 3.34 percent because of the 

difficulty in obtaining internet connection. 

Posing great challenge: 

• Proportion of population below poverty 

threshold was staggering at 68 percent 

and those below food threshold was 

55.7percent. 

• Proportion of children 6-12 years old 

enrolled in elementary education was 77.1 

percent, those 13-16 years old enrolled in 

high school was 78.4 percent and those 

children aged 6-16 enrolled in school 

was 88.5 percent which is more than 10 

percentage points short of the 2015 target 

of universal education. 

• Only 26.4 percent of women held 

elective positions in the province at the 

barangay, municipal and provincial levels. 

• Contraceptive prevalence rate 

was 32.0 percent while the proportion of 

couples using condom among those who 

are practicing family planning was only 1.4 

percent. 

• Prevalence of death rates associated 

with tuberculosis was high at 46.68 

percent. 

• Proportion of population under 

inadequate living condition was 43.1 

percent because of the water and sanitation 

component. 

Here is the summary of the status of the 

MDG indicators based on the 2007 CBMS 

result. 


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Table 1. Summary of findings of MDG indicators, Province of Romblon, 2007 



Table 1. (Contrinued) 

Source: CBMS Survey 2007 


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To achieve the MDG targets, the convergence 

of service providers from the national 

down to the local level is required. Likewise, 

the concerted efforts of all stakeholders, 

including participation of NGOs is 

necessary to overcome the great challenge, 

particularly on poverty and education. 

The prioritization of our meager financial 

resources to engender the desired results 

will help in the realization of our targets but 

we still need to seek outside fund sources to 

be able to implement the myriad strategies 

and projects essential for the attainment of 

the MDGs. 

Recommendations 

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger 

To make an inroad in conquering poverty, 

the national and provincial governments 

together with the LGUs must align provision 

of interventions needed to uplift the 

socioeconomic conditions. Microfinancing 

and small scale industries could trigger 

progress coupled with strengthening of 

marketing linkages, particularly for the 

marble and coconut based products. It 

would be advantageous if each LGU can 

put up one industry to boost and increase 

the earning power of the people. 

Due to our geophysical characteristics, it 

is desirable to promote the tourism industry 

that could create job opportunities. To 

provide alternative sources of income we 

should encourage our students to take 

technical/vocational courses. To enhance 

agricultural production, our Agricultural 

Technologists must go out of their way to 

teach the marginalized farmers with innovative 

farming techniques, including use of 

modern farm inputs. Likewise, we should tap 


the potential of our vast surrounding seas 

and develop industries based on marine 

resources. 

2. Achieve Universal Primary Education 

It is noted that completion rate for both 

elementary and high school is quite low. 

Strengthening the Early Childhood Care 

and Development (ECCD) program/ 

daycare services and expanding the 

pre-elementary education services of the 

Department of Education (DepEd) would 

help the students for the transition into the 

elementary education system including their 

readiness; hence will reduce dropouts. 

Intensify the Alternative Learning Service 

for the areas very far from educational 

institutions and provide additional Special 

Education (SPED) classes for those children 

with special needs. The Tuloy Aral Walang 

Sagabal (TAWAG) program of the Department 

of Social Welfare and Development 

(DSWD) should be expanded to cover 

all municipalities. Improvement of school 

facilities including provision of books and 

instructional materials will also inspire 

children to study. We also need to provide 

scholarship programs for deserving but 

poor students. Local School Boards should 

look deeper into the issue of low participation 

in both elementary and high school. 

Reasons for dropouts must be evaluated 

for proper strategies and solutions to be 

implemented. 

3. Promote Gender Equality and Women 

Empowerment 

There is a pronounced trend that fewer 

males attend secondary and tertiary 

education. Provision of livelihood projects 

to augment family income and short term 

technical and practical courses would 


encourage some of them to at least finish 

high school. To address this concern, a 

study must be made to determine the real 

reasons so that adequate policies and 

interventions could be put in place. 

For women empowerment, provision 

of livelihood skills training with gender 

advocacy could increase their self-esteem 

and will enable them to be productive 

members of the community. The establishment 

of a One-Stop-Shop for victims 

of abuse and the Women’s Desk will 

encourage more women to report cases 

of atrocities. Information and dissemination 

of the VAWC law will help decrease 

marital abuses including maltreatment 

of children. To encourage more women 

to seek elected position and serve their 

communities, women’s success stories in 

the area of governance could make them 

realize that they could also make a difference 

and contribute to the well being of the 

community. 

4. Reduce Child Mortality 

Institutionalizing the facility based birthing 

through upgrading of health facilities into 

standard Comprehensive Emergency 

Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEMONC) 

facility in the case of hospitals and for the 

Rural Health Units (RHUs) into a standard 

Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn 

Care (BEMONC) facility. Improve services 

of RHUs to include regular weekly/monthly 

visit to remote barangays. Implementation 

of the Responsible Parenting Movement 

(RPM) through parents association could 

generally encourage couples to practice 

birth spacing using whatever method is 


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acceptable to them. Provision of Adolescent 

Health and Youth Development 

programs would also address the issues of 

teenage pregnancies. 

5. Improve Maternal Health 

Involvement and active participation of 

all stakeholders, particularly the Municipal 

Health Officers (MHOs) can make a lot of 

difference, particularly in service delivery 

and implementation of innovative program 

interventions. Utilize the Barangay Nutrition 

Scholars (BNS) to monitor pregnant women 

in their areas and encourage them to 

submit themselves for prenatal check-ups. 

Replicate the innovative practices like the 

Buntis Baby Project of LGU Cajidiocan 

that encourages mothers to seek prenatal 

consultations through a savings scheme 

for use at birth. Continuous information, 

education, and communication (IEC) on 

Reproductive Health and encourage would 

be mothers to submit for prenatal checkup. 

6. Combat HIV/AIDs, Malaria and other Diseases 

Be vigilant to maintain the situation by 

providing the much needed information 

dissemination campaign on the prevention 

as well as providing medical examination to 

suspected carrier or infected individual. On 

tuberculosis, encourage all RHUs to seek 

accreditation to be a Tuberculosis Directly 

Observed Treatment Scheme (TB DOTS) 

facility to better respond to the challenge 

of providing treatment and cure to TB 

positive patients. Provision of a sustained 

IEC campaign to encourage client to submit 

for sputum test and take complete treatment 

coupled with advocacy for a tuberculosis-free 

LGU. 

7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability 

Strict implementation of environmental 


laws must be adhered to stop the degradation 

of our environment and start reversing 

the process. Approval of the Sangguniang 

Panlalawigan of the proposed Environmental 

Code is a priority to guide us in our quest 

for environmental sustainability. 

Expansion and establishment of fish 

sanctuaries, rehabilitation of mangroves 

and regular coastal cleanup can improve 

our marine resources. Reforestation of all 

forest lands, including Mt. Guiting-guiting 

Natural Park and support the Integrated 

Social Forestry (ISF) and Community- 

Based Forestry Management (CBFM) 

programs to hasten the recovery of our 

forest cover. Immediate attention must 

be made to rehabilitate our watershed 

areas to improve current water sources. 

Strengthen the implementation of the 

Integrated Coastal and Marine Resources 

Management (ICMRM) to cover all areas 

so that all economic activities could be 

monitored. Proper mobilization of “Bantay 

Dagat” agents to apprehend encroaching 

commercial fishing vessels in municipal 

waters and strict implementation of fishery 

laws and fines to discourage them. 

For the informal/illegal settlers, establishment 

of housing projects for their relocation 

including provision of livelihood 

opportunities will dramatically improve their 

socioeconomic condition. For waterless 

families, improvement of water system 

facility and provision of toilet bowls for 

those without sanitary latrines would ensure 

their health. 

For those living in makeshift housing, 

expanding the core shelter assistance of 

the DSWD would address some of them 

together with the provision of skills training 


and livelihood assistance. Expansion of the 

4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) 

would significantly improve the conditions 

of the poorest of the poor. 

8. Development for Global Partnership 

Provision of career options particularly 

for our younger generation could bring in 

development because of a highly educated 

labor force. Priority is the establishment of a 

Research Facility for research studies in any 

field, particularly, on the endemic species 

and biodiversity found in Sibuyan Island, 

and high value agricultural products suited 

to the province’s unique land characteristics. 

Improvement of internet access including 

relay stations for cell signal to increase 

communication within and even outside 

the country is a must. Encourage all High 

School Principals provincewide to include 

computer literacy in their academic curriculum 

for students to be ready for college and 

their chosen field in the future. 

Funding Requirements 

The province including the component 

LGUs are highly dependent on the 

Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), hence, 

the 20 percent allocation for development 

projects of the provincial government 

is a meager P80M yearly which is 

further allotted to social services sector, 

economic services sector and general 

public sector, including payment for loan 

obligations. 

The estimated funding requirement for 

the proposed plans/programs/activities 

for the next six years for the achievement 

of the MDG targets in 2015 is around 

P560M which partly has to be sourced 

out from funding agencies including 

Official Development Assistance (ODA) 

for the province to realize local targets. 

For the health reform program, the 

province received a grant from the 

European Commission amounting 

to P77M and an additional P35M 

from the Department of Health (DOH) 

counterpart for a total of P112M health 

package under the Province-wide 

Investment Plan for Health (PIPH) for a 

four-year implementation period which 

is not reflected in the proposed plans/ 

program/activities found in the latter 

part of this report under Financing the 

MDGs. 


21

22 

1. History 


Part 1. 

Provincial Profile 

The Negritoes were the aborigines of the 

islands comprising the province of Romblon. 

The Mangyans were the fi rst settlers. Today, 

these groups of inhabitants are almost extinct 

with only a few of their descendants living in 

the mountain of Tablas and in the interior of 

Sibuyan Island. A great portion of the present 

population descended from the Nayons and 

the Onhans who immigrated to the islands 

from Panay and the Bicols and Tagalogs who 

came from Luzon as early as 1870. 

Romblon was created as a regular 

province in 1901 but due to insufficient 

income, it became a subprovince of Capiz 

in 1907 until December 7, 1917, when Act 

No. 2724 reestablished the former province 

of Romblon. Under Commonwealth Act No. 

581, enacted without executive approval on 

June 8, 1940, the province was reorganized 

with four towns, namely: Tablas (embracing 

Odiongan, Looc, Badajos, Santa Fe and 

Despujols), Romblon (comprising Logbon, 

Cobrador and Alad), Banton (involving 

Simara and Maestre de Campo), and 

Sibuyan (with the towns of Cajidiocan, 

Magdiwang and San Fernando). 

The Japanese Imperial Forces maintained 

a garrison in Romblon during World 

War II from 1942 until the Naval Battle 

of Sibuyan on October 25, 1945. The 

islands became the center of considerable 

resistance movement under the direction of 

General Macario Peralta, Jr. from his Panay 

headquarters. One of the most exciting 

incidents of the Pacific War took place 

in the waters of Romblon, the Naval Air 

Battles between Japanese Admiral Kurita’s 

Fleet from Singapore and Admiral Halseys’ 

carrier planes from the American Third Fleet 

then stationed east of the Philippines. 

The province of Romblon was liberated on 

March 12, 1945 by units of the 24th Infantry 

Division under the command of a Colonel 

Clifford. On January 1, 1947, Romblon 

regained her Provincial Status through the 

passage of Republic Act No. 38, which 

was sponsored by Congressman Modesto 

Formilleza. The law not only repealed C.A. 

581 but also restored the regular provincial 

government and the Municipalities of 

Romblon and created the municipality of 

Santa Fe. 


Figure 1. Location of Romblon Province 

2. Geo-Physical Environment 

The province of Romblon is strategically 

situated at the center of the Philippine 

Archipelago. It is composed of three major 

islands (Tablas, Sibuyan and Romblon) 

and seventeen minor and small islands. 

It is surrounded by deep waters, and is 

bounded by the islands of Masbate in the 

east, Mindoro in the west, Marinduque 

in the north and Panay in the south. It 

is approximately 187 nautical miles and 

169 air miles south of Manila. The islands 

are dispersed and accessible only by sea 

transportation except for Tablas Island 

where a domestic airport is located in the 

municipality of Alcantara. 

The total land area of the province is 

approximately 1,355.9 sq. km. representing 

about 5.30 percent of the total land 

area of Region IV-B (MIMAROPA). Of 

its 17 municipalities, nine are located in 

Tablas Island (San Agustin, Calatrava, 

San Andres, Odiongan, Ferrol, Santa Fe, 

Looc, Alcantara and Santa Maria), three 

in Sibuyan Island (Magdiwang, Cajidiocan 

and San Fernando) and five (Romblon, San 

Jose, Banton, Concepcion and Corcuera) 

are island municipalities. 

The province is generally mountainous 

with about 40 percent of its land area 

having slopes greater than 50 percent. Only 

4 percent of the total area has 3 to 8 percent 

slopes while a sparse 10 percent has 0 to 3 

percent inclination. Narrow strips of coastal 

lowlands, low hills and plains typify the 

topography of some of the islands. 

The major locations of areas that are 

highly productive and buildable are 

basically in Tablas and Sibuyan Islands. In 

Tablas, these maybe found in Odiongan, 


23

24 

San Andres, Looc and Santa Fe. All three 

municipalities in Sibuyan Island on the 

other hand, have substantial level to gently 

sloping lands. Overall, good developable 

lands represent only about 13 percent of 

the province’s total area. 

The province of Romblon falls under Type 

III of the Corona’s climatic classification 

system. It is characterized by no pronounced 

wet and dry seasons. Generally, the wet 

season is from June to November and 

sometimes extends up to December when 

the southwest monsoon is predominant. 

The dry season is from January to May that 

is sometimes interrupted by erratic rainfall. 

3. Population and Social 

Environment 

Population 

As of Census 2007, Romblon has a 

population of 279,774. It ranked 4th 

among the five provinces of Region IV-B 

(MIMAROPA) and had about 11 percent 

share of the total regional population. The 

most populous municipalities in the province 

are Odiongan, Romblon and San Fernando. 

Combined, these three municipalities 

accounted for 36 percent of the provincial 

population. 

The municipalities with the least population 

are Concepcion and Ferrol with only 

4,166 and 6,595 population, respectively. 

Population growth rate for the province 

was registered at 0.78 for the period 2000 to 

2007, the second lowest in the MIMAROPA 

region. The municipalities that showed the 

highest population growth rates are Santa 

Fe and San Jose with 1.99 and 1.90. Two 

municipalities registered a negative growth 

rate, Concepcion with -1.60 and Corcuera 

with -0.90, both island municipalities. 


How Romblon Got Its Name 

A legendary tale tells of how Romblon got its 

name. When Loarca’s expedition touched sand 

in Romblon, one of the soldiers rumbled in the 

beach. Tired of strolling, he felt thirsty, went 

up a house and asked for a drink. Th e low-built 

hut where he went up was a primitive one-room 

shelter. Inside it was a hen’s nest somewhere at 

the top of a post near the window. A hen was 

hatching eggs therein. Th e Castillan soldier inquired 

if he could get the chicken for free. Th e 

house occupant, a young woman, did not comprehend 

what the visitor said so she answered in 

the dialect “nagalomlom”, meaning the chicken 

was brooding. Perplexed, the Spanish soldier left 

the house muttering in disgust the word “nagalomlom”. 

Th en when he returned to the ship he 

was asked where he had been and he answered 

mockingly - “nagalomlom”. 

When the Iberians left, they named the island 

“Nagalomlom” until it was corrupted to Domblon, 

and later on modifi ed to Romblon. 

Since then, the group of islands scattered in 

the surrounding water area was named Romblon. 

Population density for the province stood at 

around 206 persons per sq. km. Population 

density is highest in the island municipalities 

of Corcuera with 465 and San Jose with 

326 persons per sq. km. The least densely 

populated municipalities are Calatrava and 

Magdiwang with 112 and 115 persons per 

sq. km. respectively. 

Health Services 

There are eight hospitals in the province, 

all of which are government-owned. The 

hospitals in Tablas Island are the following: 

Romblon Provincial Hospital (RPH) in 

Odiongan (75 beds), Tablas Island District 

Hospital (TIDH) in San Agustin (25 beds) 

Don Modesto Formilleza District Hospital 


Table 2. Demographic Features, By Municipality 

Source: NSO, 2007 Census of Population 

(DMFDH) in Looc (25 beds) and San Andres 

District Hospital (6 beds). In Sibuyan Island, 

the Sibuyan District Hospital in Cajidiocan 

can accommodate 25 in-patients. In the 

island municipalities, the San Jose District 

Hospital in San Jose has 10 beds, the 

Malipayon District Hospital in Corcuera has 

10 beds and the Romblon District Hospital 

in the capital town of Romblon has 75 

beds. The total bed capacity of the eight 

hospitals is 251 or a bed to population ratio 

of 1:1,115. 

Table 3. Number of Schools and Enrollment Data, SY 2007-2008 

3.3 Education 

Based on the report from the 

DepEd Division of Romblon for 

CY 2007-2008, there are 477 

schools offering pre-elementary, 

elementary and secondary 

education in the province. For 

pre-elementary, a total of 200 

schools of which 18 are private 

and 182 are public serves the 

province. For elementary, a total 

of 226 schools, 11 of them private 

and 215 public schools. For 

secondary, a total of 51 schools 

are available, 10 are private, 38 

are public and 3 are under State 

University/College (SUCs). Enrollment 

for the same schoolyear totals 8,307 

for pre-school, 51,995 for elementary and 

27,122 for secondary. The report further 

shows that almost 95 percent of the basic 

education enrollees in the division are in 

public schools, as can be gleaned from the 

table below. 

For elementary school participation rate, 

Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) or those 

enrolled in elementary regardless of age 


25

26 

for CY 2007-2008 is 98.7 percent while Net 

Enrollment Ratio (NET) or those enrolled in 

elementary age 6-12 is only 80.22 percent. 

For the same year, elementary completion 

rate is recorded at 68.05 percent. For 

secondary participation rate for the same 

period, the division recorded a GER of 72.8 

percent while NET or those enrolled in high 

school aged 13-16 is only 52.3 percent. 

Completion rate for secondary school 

for the same period is recorded at 72.22 

percent. 

4. Local Economy 

Agriculture and Livestock 

Agriculture is the main industry in the 

province. Coconut is the number one crop 

with a total planted area of 58,270.44 

hectares. San Agustin has the most 

extensive area with coconut plants followed 

by Romblon and Cajidiocan. Rice is the 

next crop being produced particularly in 

Odiongan, Looc, Cajidiocan and Santa 

Fe. Other crops grown include root crops, 

vegetables and fruits. Odiongan, Banton 

and Magdiwang have the greatest areas 

planted with root crops and correspondingly, 

with the highest volume of production. 

Vegetable production is mostly for home 

consumption and grown in small scale. 

Livestock development and poultry 

production is a viable smallscale enterprise 

for farmers in the province. The provincial 

government maintains breeding facilities 

in strategic locations provincewide to 

encourage farmers to engage in livestock 

and poultry production to augment their 

income. Livestock and poultry management 

training and seminars is provided to 

interested clients. 


Due to the geographical condition of the 

province, crops and livestock production is 

generally deficient as compared to the food 

requirements of Romblon population. To 

meet the rice requirements, Romblon relies 

on imports from the neighboring provinces 

where vegetables, poultry meat, vegetables 

and fruits are supplied mostly by Luzon. 

Coastal Marine Resources 

Fishing industry can be a major enterprise 

as Romblon is surrounded by bodies of 

water. The fishing ground of Romblon is 

a migratory path of fishes from Sulu and 

Visayan Seas passing Tablas Strait, Sibuyan 

Sea and Romblon Pass. The waters also 

abound with demersal fishes due to the 

coral reefs surrounding the islands. 

Because the province has a great potential 

for aqua/marine development, the province 

implemented a coastal and resource 

management program. Each municipality 

established a fish sanctuary and passed 

laws on fishery. The use of compressor in 

the municipal waters was regulated and 

banned altogether in some municipalities. 

Mineral Resources 

Marble is the most significant mineral 

deposit of Romblon and is the most 

renowned product of the province. Based 

on statistics, Romblon is the second biggest 

provincial marble producer of the country 

next to Bulacan. Romblon marble is of very 

high quality and comes in shades of white, 

green, pink, red and black. The Mines 

and Geosciences Bureau has estimated 

that Romblon is endowed with about 150 

million metric tons of marble. At current 

rates of extraction, the supply may last for 


three more centuries. Tablas Island is also 

believed to have vast reserves of marble. 

Marble quarrying and processing are 

major activities in Romblon. Among the 

most common marble products are categorized 

into the following: novelty items (gifts, 

ashtray, table bars), furniture (dining tables, 

baptismal fonts) and construction materials 

(tiles, balusters, marble chips). 

Other mineral resources with considerable 

quantity include nickel ore and gold 

mostly to be found in Sibuyan Island. 

Gold panning and smallscale mining is a 

lucrative undertaking in the municipality of 

Magdiwang. 

Tourism 

Romblon’s exotic blend of sun, sea and 

forest, together with its peaceful and friendly 

people make it an enchanting destination for 

nature and adventure travelers. Both local 

and international tourists can have their pick 

of diverse and interesting places and activities 

they can fi nd in our 20 islands and islets. 

The province has white sand beaches, secret 

coves and serene islets, waterfalls, historic 

sites, old churches and caves believed to 

be ancient burial sites. Mt. Guiting-Guiting 

Natural Park in Sibuyan Island is a famous 

site for mountain climbing. Moreover, it is a 

center for plant diversity and home to many 

native, endangered and rare and vulnerable 

birds, mammals and reptiles. 

5. Infrastructure/Utilities/Facilities 

Road Network 

The coastal roads traversing the major 

islands of Romblon, Sibuyan and Tablas 

Island form the backbone of the road 

network of the province. Roughly 70 

percent of these road networks are located 

in Tablas Island. By road category, majority 

are national roads with total length of 

311.046 kilometers, followed by provincial 

roads with 239.005 kilometers. There is no 

available data for municipal and barangays 

roads. By surface type, most of the roads 

were paved by gravel/earth, portions of 

circumferential roads are also concrete as 

well as most roads in Poblacion. 

The primary modes of land transportation 

in the province are jeepneys, motorcycles, 

mini-buses and tricycles that serve 

inter-municipal movements and linkages. 

Motorized bancas provide transport means 

from island to island. At present, there is 

an available domestic flight in Tablas Island 

to and from Manila three times a week. 

Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships facilitate 

movement outside the province via the port 

of Batangas. 

Water Supply 

Out of 17 municipalities, 14 have Level III 

water supply systems serving about 32.57 

percent of the total provincial households. 

Level III has a reservoir with house-to-house 

connections. Majority of households in the 

province were serviced by Levels II and I 

water system. Level I category is a common 

facility where the community members get 

their water supply from shallow wells and 

deep wells while Level II has a reservoir 

with communal faucet. Based on the 2007 

CBMS report, the proportion of population 

with access to safe drinking water is 76.28 

percent. 

Power Supply 

Power supply is generated by the National 

Power Corporation (NPC) and serviced by 

two electric cooperatives. 


27

28 

Tablas Island Electric Cooperatives 

(TIELCO) serves the power needs of Tablas 

Island including the island municipality of 

San Jose. As of 2006, TIELCO has a total 

of 21,097 house connections. 

Romblon Electric Cooperative 

(ROMELCO) supplies the capital town of 

Romblon as well as Sibuyan Island. As 

of the year 2007, ROMELCO has 5,288 

house connections in Romblon and 5,150 

house connections in the three municipalities 

located in Sibuyan Island or a total of 

10,438 house connections in their franchise 

area. 

The Islands of Banton, Concepcion and 

Corcuera are attended to by the National 

Power Corporation (NPC) through the 

municipal governments. 

Telecommunications 

The province has several operating 

telecommunication exchanges, namely: 

Kayumanggi, Romblontel, Odiongan 

Telephone Corporation (OTELCO), the 

Telecommunication Office (TELOF), 

Telegram System, Liberty Phone, Public 

Calling Stations under the DOTC and the 

Provincial Communication System (PCS) 

radio transceivers and receivers. SMART 

and GLOBE telecommunications have 

relay stations in the three urban centers of 

Romblon, Odiongan and Cajidiocan. Most 

areas in the province are already connected 

through cellphones except in some places 

were the signal is weak or non-existent 

because of towering mountains that block 

the signal. The triple peak in Santa Maria 

has a relay station for GMA, PLDT and 

Liberty Phones. 


6. Local Institutional Capability 

Romblon has been reclassified as a third 

class province as of CY 2002. A lone 

congressional district, it is made up of 17 

municipalities and 219 barangays. Below 

is a list of the municipalities, the number of 

barangays and income classification. 

1. Romblon – 3rd class, the capital town 

comprising 31 barangays 

2. Alcantara – 5th class municipality with 

12 barangays 

3. Banton – 5th class municipality with 17 

barangays 

4. Cajidiocan – 4th class municipality with 

14 barangays 

5. Calatrava – 5th class municipality with 

7 barangays 

6. Concepcion – 6th class municipality 

with 9 barangays 

7. Corcuera – 5th class municipality with 

15 barangays 

8. Ferrol – 6th class municipality with 6 

barangays 

9. Looc – 4th class municipality with 12 

barangays 

10. Magdiwang – 5th class municipality 


11. Odiongan – 2nd class municipality 


12. San Agustin – 4th class municipality 


13. San Andres – 5th class municipality 


14. San Fernando – 4th class municipality 


15. San Jose – 6th class municipality with 

5 barangays 

16. Santa Fe – 5th class municipality with 

11 barangays 


17. Santa Maria – 5th class 

municipality with 6 barangays 

There are several banking 

facilities in the municipalities of 

Odiongan and Romblon. Rural 

banks facilitate loans and savings 

account in the municipalities 

without commercial banks like San 

Agustin, Looc, Alcantara, Santa Fe, 

Cajidiocan and San Fernando. 

Based on the latest report from 

the Romblon Police Office, the 

province is considered one of 

the most peaceful in the country 

with a minimal volume of crimes. 

It has maintained the peace and 

tranquility of the place and never 

contributed to the destabilization 

of the country. The local 

communist movement is hardly 

felt in any part of the province 

with no atrocity committed 

against government personnel 

or establishment. Syndicated 

crime groups and criminal gangs 

continue to be non-existent and 

crime incidents are more often 

non-index crimes. 


29

30 


Part 2. Status Report 

on the Millennium 

Development Goals 

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme 

Poverty and Hunger 

Target 1.A : Halve between 1990 and 

2015, the proportion of people whose 

income is less than one dollar a day. 

A. Status and Trends 

Proportion of Population Below Poverty Threshold 

The province of Romblon belongs to the 10 

poorest provinces in the Philippines in 2000. 

Based on the report from the National Statistical 

Coordination Board (NSCB), Romblon 

ranked 10th poorest in 2000 (52.2%), 25th in 

both 2003 (37.5%) and 2006 (41.9%) among 

the 81 provinces of the country. According 

to the 2007 CBMS data, the proportion of 

population below poverty threshold is a 

staggering 68.00 percent. The underlying 

cause of widespread poverty in the province 

is due to low economic returns as majority 


of the people are marginal farmers 

and fi shermen with very little income 

generated in traditional farming and 

fi shing. 

By municipality, the LGU that 

posted the highest proportion of 

population below poverty threshold 

is Ferrol with 80.47 percent followed 

by Magdiwang with 78.93 percent. 

Ferrol is a 6th class municipality and 

most of the employees working in the 

LGU are residents of the neighboring 

more prosperous town of Odiongan. 

The municipality that recorded the 

lowest proportion in this indicator 

is Odiongan with 56.27 percent. 

Odiongan is the only municipality 

classified as second class LGU, and 

where the only SUC in the province 

is located. 

Source: CBMS Database 2007 

Figure2. Proportion of Population Living Below Poverty Threshold 

Table 5: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living Below Poverty Threshold, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


31

32 

Figure 3. Proportion of Population Living Below Poverty Threshold 

Table 6: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Living Below Food Threshold 



Proportion of Population Living 

Below Food Threshold 

More than half (55.68%) 

of the Romblon’s population 

are living below food 

threshold. Ferrol ranked 

highest with 71.67 percent 

followed by Magdiwang 

with 68.96 percent. 

Odiongan has the lowest 



Poverty Gap Ratio 

The poverty gap ratio or the 

mean distance separating the 

population from poverty line is only 

0.34. This suggests that the people 

of the province are not without 

hope of overcoming poverty if 

they were to be given a perfectly 

targeted intervention to improve 

their economic status. On this 

indicator, San Andres posted the 

highest ratio of 0.6 while Corcuera 

and Santa Fe posted the lowest 

ratios of .26. San Andres is basically 

an agricultural area with farmers 

and tenants. On the other hand, 

Corcuera is an island municipality 

where most inhabitants engage in 

fishing activities. 

Figure 4. Poverty Gap Ratio 

Table 7: Poverty Gap Ratio, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



33

Figure 6. Employment Rate 

34 

Table 8: Employment Rate, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive 

employment and decent work for all, 

including women and young people 

Employment Rate 

Based on the 2007 CBMS data, employment 

rate for the period is high at 97.73 

percent for the province. Although most of 

the people in the province are employed, 

their jobs offer very little economic return. 

The LGU that posted the highest employment 

rate is Banton with 99.70 percent followed by 

Corcuera with 99.39 percent. Both are island 

municipalities whose major economic activities 

are farming and fi shing. San Andres has 


Table 9: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population who Experienced Food Shortage, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


the lowest employment rate with 84.78 

percent and posted the highest poverty 

gap ratio in the entire province. Majority 

of the people employed in San Andres 

are tenant farmers with very low income. 

Target 1.C: Halve between 1990 and 

2015, the proportion of people who 

suffer from hunger. 

Proportion of Population Who 

Experienced Food Shortage 

Based on the 2007 CBMS data, the 

province recorded a proportion of 

3.02 percent of population who experienced 

food shortage. Considering 

Figure 6. Proportion of Population who Experienced Food Shortage 


35

36 

Table 10: Magnitude and Proportion of Underweight Children Under 5 Years of Age, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


the high proportion of poverty incidence, 

it is interesting to note that only a scant 

proportion of the population experienced 

food shortage. This is due to the fact that 

Romblon is blest with abundant natural 

resources. One can get food in the forest, 

rivers and the vast surrounding seas. 

The LGUs that posted a two digit proportion 

in this particular indicator are Magdiwang 

with 16.19 percent and San Fernando with 

10.32 percent, both in Sibuyan Island. These 

two municipalities have indigenous people 

living in the mountains and are dependent 

on traditional farming. The rest of the LGUs 

posted zero or a low proportion of below 

5 percent. 


Prevalence of Underweight Children 

Under 5 years of Age 

In the case of the province of Romblon, the 

indicator on the prevalence of underweight 

children under five years old shows a 

very promising trend. Based on the data 

from the Office of the Provincial Nutrition 

Action Officer (PNAO), the malnutrition 

prevalence rate in 1991 for the province 

was recorded at 20.02 percent. The figure 

had steadily gone down since. However, 

with the implementation of the International 

Reference Standard (IRS), a high 19.04 

percent was recorded in 2003. Data from 

the PNAO record of the yearly Operation 

Timbang (OPT) has shown a gradual 


Figure 7. Proportion of Underweight Children Under 5 Years of Age 

decrease on the malnutrition prevalence 

rate since then. 

Based on the 2007 CBMS data, prevalence 

of underweight children under five years old 

is recorded at 8.15 percent. The national 

baseline data on this particular indicator 

is 34.5 percent and the national target for 

2015 is 17.3 percent. The current statistics 

shows that the province’s data is below the 

national target and will likely maintain this 

trend. At the municipal level, Magdiwang 

registered the highest prevalence of 

underweight children under five years old 

based on the 2007 CBMS data with 16.93 

percent. It was followed by Alcantara with 

16.53 percent and Ferrol with 16.07 percent. 

The municipality with the lowest prevalence 

rate is San Jose with only 1.52 percent. 

B. Current Policies and Programs 

The elected officials of the province are 

very much aware that Romblon is among 

the poorest provinces in the country. 

Hence, most plans, program and activities 

prioritized in the 20 percent Annual 

Development Fund (ADF) were geared 

towards the upliftment of the socioeconomic 

condition of the people. The province and 

the LGUs have targeted the marginalized 

sector and provided them assistance in the 

form of livestock dispersal, vegetable seeds 

distribution and other livelihood opportunities 

to help eradicate extreme poverty and 

hunger. For those people in crises situation 

and those affected by disaster or calamities, 

the provincial and municipal governments 

provided them with financial assistance 


37

38 

and materials to help them overcome their 

dire situation. However, due to financial 

constraints, the provincial and local governments 

can only provide very minimal 

intervention and cannot really sustain the 

effort as other priority needs have also to 

be given preference. 

The National Government has also 

launched the Hunger Mitigation program 

which the provincial and local governments 

is trying to institutionalize in their local 

programs to help achieve national target. 

C. Challenges 

The primary challenge for economic 

development and the eradication of poverty 

and hunger is basically our geo-physical 

environment. Being archipelagic in nature, 

accessibility to some island municipalities 

is very diffi cult particularly during inclem- 


ent weather. Coupled with the fact that the 

province is generally mountainous, development 

initiatives are limited to smallscale 

economic enterprises, not enough to spur 

massive economic growth. Because of these 

limitations, the province does not attract 

outside investment that could generate more 

job opportunities for our people. 

Another hindrance in our efforts to alleviate 

poverty is the meager income derived 

from local sources. The province has no 

tax base to generate income aside from 

real property taxes which is scant; hence 

the province is very much dependent on 

its share of the Internal Revenue Allotment 

(IRA). Because there are not enough funds 

to pursue relevant economic initiatives or 

even provide pump priming activities for 

short term relief, the province and most 

LGUs are hard pressed to make do of what 

they can with their limited resources. 


Supplemental Feeding Program for Malnourished Children 

Mrs. Gloria Elizabeth M. Merida –Nutrition Officer IV while holding the pot, while Mrs. Ara M. Magallon-Engineering Aide and Mrs. Estrella 

M.Galindez-office helper , watching. 

Although the province is technically poor 

because of the low income of most people, it is 

very pleased to report that malnutrition is an 

area given priority and attention resulting to 

low prevalence. Th is can be attributed to the 

relentless eff orts of the provincial government, 

LGUs, as well as barangay offi cials in providing 

supplemental feeding for malnourished children. 

Feeding programs in the province are a concerted 

eff ort among stakeholders, thus, usually achieving 

the desired eff ect. Th e annual Nutrition 

Month celebration has proven to be an eff ective 

advocacy mechanism that provides information 

on health and nutrition related issues. Th e local 

Mr. Joey B. Morale-PNAO, watching the children falling in line to get „lugaw‰ 

implementation of the seven (7) 

Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 

(PPAN) impact programs and 

its facilitating activities were operationalized 

provincewide. Under this 

program, the Provincial Nutrition 

Committee was formed. Some of 

the facilitating factors that helped 

improve the malnutrition situation are: 

1. Deployment of Barangay Nutrition 

Scholars (BNS) in all barangays 

2. Provision of prescribed salter-type 

weighing scales to all BNS province-wide 

3. Active involvement of PNC members 


39

40 

Mrs. Gloria Elizabeth Madali Merida (holding the banner)-Nutrition Officer IV, Mr. Joey B. Morales-PNAO (peach uniform) and others who cooperated/helped 

during the Mass Feeding 

Children eating „lugaw‰ as prepared by the nutrition committee and staff 


including NGOs like the Red Cross and the 

Rural Improvement Clubs (RICs) in the activities 

4. LGUs initiative to provide supplemental 

feeding to target pre-school children and provision 

of fi nancial assistance/income generating 

project materials to prioritized families 

with malnourished children 

5. Annual monitoring and evaluation of local 

level plan implementation in all municipalities 

6. Active organization of Rural Improvement 

Clubs 

7. Provision of Nutri-noodles, GRO biscuits 

and iodized salt to underweight pre-school 

children in all municipalities 

8. The parents of nutritionally deficient 

children were taught how to prepare simple 

yet nutritious food using locally available 

vegetables like malungay and camote tops. to 

correct imbalance diet. 


Goal 2: Achieve Universal 

Primary Education 

Target 2.A: Ensure that, by 2015, 

children everywhere, boys and girls 

alike, will be able to complete a full 

course of primary schooling. 


Proportion of Children Aged 6-12 Years Old Enrolled 

in Elementary School 

Education data for Romblon has been 

erratic as the fi gure tends to go up and down 

and vice versa for the past two decades. 

In 2007, data from CBMS reveals that the 

proportion of children aged 6-12 years old 

enrolled in elementary education is 77.06 

percent. The low proportion could be due 

to the specifi c age group, hence, those in 

elementary school whose age are above 

12 years old were not captured. The male 

proportion is slightly lower at 76.12 percent 

compared to the 78.08 percent for girls. This 

means that more boys than girls do not attend 

primary education. There is no pronounced 

difference on data based on urbanity when it 

comes to elementary education. The municipality 

that registered the highest proportion 

of children enrolled in elementary schools 

are Looc and Alcantara with 81.40 and 81.08 

percent respectively. Both municipalities 

are located in Tablas Island with relatively 

flat to gently rolling terrain. The lowest 

proportion was recorded by Cajidiocan with 

73.6 percent, a mountainous municipality 

in Sibuyan Island. The diffi culty of going to 

school by those living far from school is one 

of the reasons for the low participation rate 

in this municipality. 


41

42 

Table 11: Proportion of Children Aged 6-12 Years Old Enrolled in Elementary School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 8 .Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old Enrolled in Elementary School 


Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old 

Enrolled in High School 

For high school education, the proportion 

of children going to school age 13-16 

is very low at 62.52 percent. Even if we 

consider those in high school whose age 

are more than 16 years old, the data is still 

low. Males in high school comprised 56.16 

percent compared to the 69.49 percent 

females. Based on this data, a considerable 

number of males in the province 

do not attend secondary education. The 

reason could be due to poverty - they 

opt to find work early to contribute to the 

family income, rather than continue higher 

education. In urban areas, there are 70.18 


Table 12: Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old Enrolled in High School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


percent of 13-16 years old youth who go to 

school while in rural areas, there are only 

60.79 percent. This data also shows that 

more 13-16 years old in the rural areas 

do not attend secondary education. One 

reason could be the distance of secondary 

schools in the rural areas as each school 

serves about an average of 4 barangays 

(only 51 secondary schools serve the 219 

barangays provincewide). The accessibility 

to the schools coupled with lack of pocket 

money could be the deterring factors for 

most 13-16 years old to attend secondary 

education in the rural areas. The municipality 

that registered the highest proportion of 

participation rate is Concepcion with 81.67 

percent, an island municipality farthest from 

Figure 9 .Proportion of Children Aged 13-16 Years Old Enrolled in High School 


43

44 

Table 13: Proportion of Children Aged 6-16 Enrolled in School, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 10 .Proportion of Children Aged 6-16 Enrolled in School 


the provincial capital with gently rolling 

terrain. Four municipalities registered less 

than 60 percent participation rate in this 

age bracket, Calatrava (52.66%), San Jose 

(55.10%), San Fernando (56.04%) and 

Cajidiocan (56.33%). With the exception 

of San Jose, the three LGUs are generally 

mountainous while the former is very near 

Boracay Island, hence, some youths are 

drawn to peddling goods to the tourists in 

the area, rather than continue their secondary 

education. 

Proportion of Children Aged 6-16 Enrolled in School 

The proportion of 6-16 years old children 

enrolled in school is 88.86 percent. There 

are more schooling children in the urban 


Table 14: Literacy Rate of 15-24 Year-Olds, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


areas (90.86%) compared to the 87.93 

percent in the rural areas. Accessibility to 

school is a factor causing the disparity of 

enrollment. The town of Banton has the 

highest percentage (94.51%) of 6-16 years 

old schooling children. This is an island 

municipality with gently rolling terrain. The 

municipality with the least proportion is San 

Fernando with 84.54 percent, a mountainous 

municipality south of Sibuyan Island. 

An indigenous community is present in the 

island. 

Literacy Rate of 15-24 Year-Olds 

For ages 15-24 years old, the province 

recorded a 97.71 percent literacy rate, a 

bit higher than the national baseline and 

Figure 11. Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds 


45

46 

2003 figure of 96.6 percent. There is no 

pronounced disparity for the urban and 

rural areas when it comes to the literacy 

indicator. The municipality of Alcantara 

registered the highest proportion for 15-24 

years literacy rate with 98.73 percent. A 

trade school, Alcantara National Trade 

School (ANTS) is present in the municipality. 

Meanwhile, Concepcion hit the lowest 

proportion with 93.36 percent. 


The education program in the country 

is national based. However, with the 

implementation of the Local Government 

Code of 1991 (RA 7160) the Local 

Government Units were given authority to 

implement education related programs by 

giving them authority to levy funds in the 

form of the Special Education Fund (SEF) 

which is taken from real property taxes. 

With the national policy for free education 

for both elementary and high school and 

the augmentation of funds from SEF for the 

local government units, the national and 

local government units are empowered 

to provide the necessary intervention to 

achieve universal primary education. 

To achieve this goal, numerous national 

and local initiatives were implemented. 

There was the Third Elementary Education 

Program (TEEP) which includes construction 

of new classroom, renovation of dilapidated 

elementary school buildings, procurement 

of tables and chairs including provision of 

textbooks. There was also the Secondary 

Education Development and Improvement 

Program (SEDIP) which likewise provided 

for construction and improvement of 

secondary schools with counterpart from 

the LGU. 


On education services, the Department 

of Education also provides specialized 

programs that cater for those with special 

needs, such as Special Education (SPED) 

for children with disabilities. However, SPED 

classes are only given in major urban areas 

and not all special children can avail of the 

service. Another program of the DepEd 

Division of Romblon is the Alternative 

Learning System (ALS) which cater to those 

children that cannot really go to school for 

some reasons. 

C. Challenges 

The major challenge in achieving 

universal education is poverty. Parents 

who cannot buy the necessary needs of 

the children such as bags, notebooks, 

papers and pencils, are more prone to 

defer sending their children to school. 

More likely, the children themselves 

would not like to go to school if their 

parents themselves do not encourage 

them to enroll. With this kind of environment, 

the children are discouraged to 

study and if they skip school for a year, 

most likely, they would not go to school 

anymore. There is also the problem of 

great distance from school. Some parents 

are reluctant to send their small children 

to school because they have to walk 

great distances and have to wake up by 

dawn to prepare so that they will not be 

late. There are instances that they have 

to climb mountains and cross rivers in 

order to reach school. This is usually the 

case for secondary education where one 

institution caters to around 4 to 5 remote 

barangays. These aggravating circumstances 

sometimes led to negative attitude 

towards going to school and eventually 

led to school dropouts. 


School-Community collaboration reduces student dropouts 

and improves academic performance 

Initiatives on policies and programs aimed to 

reduce dropouts and improve academic performance 

are being sustained by the DepEd Division 

Offi ce of Romblon. Initial gains in the improvement 

of student academic achievement as measured 

by the National Achievement Test (NAT) 

Mean Percentage Score and in the reduction of 

student absences and eventual dropouts are attributed 

by the teachers to the much-improved 

learning environment. Modest initial gains include 

6.2 and 0.6 incremental improvements of 

MPS in the second year and fourth year NAT 

results respectively in 2006 and 2007. Reduction 

of student dropouts on the other hand is initially 

indicated by a 2.27% dropout rate in SY 2005- 

2006 from 5.0% in SY 2004-2005. 

“Pagpasok mo, bantay ko” (PMBK) is an attendance 

tracking mechanism where a student 

leader is assigned as an attendance monitor of a 

particular group of students in a particular subject 

area. Th e attendance report is consolidated by the 

attendance monitor and submitted to the class 

adviser who addresses observed problems on absences 

or cutting of classes. When needed, a case 

is a subject of a teacher-parent dialogue during 

the quarterly homeroom PTCA meeting. PMBK 

was introduced in 2006 and has been sustained 

over the last two years. 

Quarterly Homeroom PTCA meetings. 

Each homeroom organizes a homeroom PTCA. 

A quarterly meeting is conducted in time with 

the release of student report cards as a forum for 

parents to get feedback on their children’s school 

performance and for the homeroom adviser to 

take up concerns with a 

parent whose child needs 

special follow up. 

Adopt a Student Program. 

LGU offi cials, teachers 

and generous community members help 

avert students from dropping out by providing 

miscellaneous fees, school supplies or lodging 

house especially for needy students from outlying 

barangays. Since the program’s introduction in the 

early years of Calatrava National High School 

when it was still Calatrava Community High 

School, on the average, 25 student benefi ciaries 

are assisted annually. 

Supplementary Values Teaching. To reinforce 

regular values education classes, religious groups 

are accommodated to conduct 30-minute teachings 

off ered to students on voluntary basis during 

lunch break. Th is school year, the Lamp Foundation 

has sustained its Monday to Th ursday teachings 

particularly off ered to First Year students. 

Class Enhancement Program. Additional 

20 minutes of daily enhancement activities 

except on Fridays are spent to reinforce earlier 

developed competencies in Science, Math 

and English. Th e intention is to reinforce the 

identifi ed least learned competencies based on 

formative and summative tests. Th ese are on 

top of the regular teaching to introduce and 

develop new competencies in the three subject 

areas. Th e program was introduced as a Division 

initiative in June 2002 and has been sustained 

over the last six years. 


47

48 

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality 

Target 3.A: Eliminate gender disparity 

in primary and secondary education, 

preferably by 2005, and in all levels of 

education no later than 2015. 


Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary Education 

With regards to gender equality, the 

data for Romblon shows that for the ratio 

of girls to boys in primary education, it is 

0.90 because of the higher male population 


and enrollment in the 6-12 age bracket as 

compared to the female data. The municipality 

of San Jose recorded the highest ratio 

of 0.98 percent while Concepcion the lowest 

with 0.80 percent. There is no discernable 

disparity for the data based on urbanity. 

Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary Education 

On the other hand, the ratio of girls to 

boys in secondary education is 1.03 despite 

the higher male population in the 13-16 

age group compared to female population. 

The data reveals that there are more 


Figure 12. Ratio of girls to boys in primary education 

female students in high school, suggesting 

that more males in the 13-16 age bracket 

does not enroll in secondary education or 

more males are dropping out of school. The 

municipality that registered the highest ratio 

is Santa Maria with 1.17 while the lowest is 

Banton with 0.80. The data for Banton is 

understandable as there is a considerable 

number of male population (284 males 

against 225 females) and enrollment (201 

males as against 173 females) in the 13-16 

age bracket. There is no discernable disparity 

in the urbanity data for this particular 

indicator. 

Ratio of Girls to Boys in Tertiary Education 

Likewise, the ratio of girls to boys in 

tertiary education is 1.14 for the province. 

Table 15: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary 

Education, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



49

50 

Figure 13. Ratio of girls to boys in tertiary education 

Table 16: Ratio of Girls to Boys in Secondary 

Education, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



The data shows that more females are 

enrolled in tertiary education than males. 

This further reiterates the trend that more 

boys stayed out of school as they grow 

old. The municipality that recorded the 

highest ratio is Santa Maria with 1.86 while 

Concepcion recorded the least ratio of 0.43. 

Ratio of Literate Females to Literate Males Aged 

15-24 Years Old 

Another indicator on gender equality is 

the ratio of literate females to males age 

15-24. On this indicator, the ratio is 0.88 for 

the province. The reason for the lower ratio 

is the much higher male population for the 

15-24 age bracket which is 22,381 males 

against 19,573 females. The municipality 


Figure 14. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Tertiary Education 

that registered the highest ratio is Santa 

Maria with 0.97 while Corcuera registered 

the lowest ratio of 0.74. The data for urban 

area is slightly higher at 0.94 compared to 

the rural area at 0.86. 

Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the Municipality 

and Province 

When it comes to the proportion of seats 

held by women in the province, the proportion 

is only 26.37 percent. The municipality 

that registered the highest proportion is 

the municipality of San Agustin with 36.92 

percent while the lowest was registered 

by San Jose with a scant proportion of 18 

Table 18: Ratio of Literate Females to Literate Males Aged 

15-24 Years Old, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



51

52 

Figure 15. Ratio of Literate Females to Literate Males Aged 15-24 Years Old 

percent. In the political arena, the data 

reveals that in the province, it is dominated 

by male politicians. The reason for this is 

that majority of our women still believe 

that holding public office is more of a male 

occupation and that women’s first priority 

is the home and family. 


Although the current national policy 

is education for all, there seems to be a 

gender bias in favor of girls attending 

education in the province. The preceding 

indicators showed that more males are 

dropping out of school and not pursuing 

higher education, particularly in the 13-16 


Table 19: Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the 

Municipality and Province 2007 

Source: DILG 


Figure 16. Proportion of Seats Held by Women in the Municipality and Province 

age group and in the tertiary education. 

In the province, this is due to the fact that 

more males opt to work rather than continue 

to a higher education to contribute to the 

income of the family. Provision of livelihood 

projects to augment family income and 

short term technical and practical courses 

would encourage some of them to at least 

finish high school. However, studies must 

be made to determine the real underlying 

causes of this trend so that adequate 

interventions or policies can be made to 

address this problem. 

The concept of more males wielding 

power, be it at home or in the work 

place, has been the practice in the 

past century. While equal rights is 

enshrined in the Philippine constitution, 

in practice, women submit to men as 

the country adheres to the Christian 

teaching that wives should submit to 

their husbands. To promote Gender 

Equality and Women Empowerment, 

both the national and local government 

units have implemented Gender 

and Development (GAD) projects. The 


53

54 

Gender Sensitivity Training Seminar has 

been streamlined in the DSWD Program 

and all their services have gender 

component. Aside from this, various 

Gender Advocacy Activities are in place, 

in order to orient the women on their 

rights. Gender Advocacy is a bit slow 

due to accessibility problems in remote 

areas that post a challenge to provide 

this type of service. However, currently, 

massive efforts to promote Gender 

Equality can be gleaned in government 

initiatives such as the Women’s Desk 

and the Violence Against Women and 

their Children (VAWC) seminars, up to 

barangay level. During yearly convention 

under the DSWD and Kalipunan 

ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI) program, 

symposium about Gender Sensitivity is 

continually made part of the featured 

activities. This is the ultimate direction of 

our LGU to combat the existing manifestations 

of gender bias to wit: 

1. lower wages, last hired-first fired policy, 

little or no access to loans 

2. women concentrated in low positions in 

bureaucracy, few women in policy-making 

level 

3. child care and household responsibilities 

shouldered mainly by women on top 

of regular working hours outside the home 

4. women portrayed either as homemak- 


ers/virgins or as temptress/sinners in most 

advertisement 

5. wife beating, rape, incest, and sexual 

harassment 

C. Challenges 

Filipinos being God-fearing people and 

steep in patriarchal tradition posed the 

major challenge in achieving the goal. In 

most of the rural areas, it is still the men 

who are the head of the family, meaning, 

they decide for the family even if it is the 

women who earn the family income. This 

has been the practice of past generations 

and the concept of gender equality is 

still novel. There are still plenty of cases 

of women’s abuse such as battered 

women and rape cases all throughout the 

province, hence, there is still a need to 

vigorously disseminate gender laws and 

advocate for women to assert themselves, 

particularly housewives who do not earn 

a living. It is also a big challenge how 

to reach these marginalized women 

and another bigger challenge how to 

empower them in order for them to be 

able to enjoy parity rights with their male 

counterparts. All of these forms of gender 

bias are hindrances to development, thus, 

the challenge is to address these issues in 

every program implementation. 


Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality 

Target 4.A: Reduce by two-thirds, 

between 1990 and 2015, the under-five 

mortality ratio 


Proportion of Children Aged 0 to Less Than 5 Years 

Old Who Died 

Out of the total 29,728 children aged 0 to 

less than 5 years old in the province, there 

were 166 who died giving a 0.56 percent 

proportion. The data for the province is a 

bit high because of cases of diarrhea and 

some communicable or infectious diseases 

with acute respiratory infection as among 

the top leading cause of morbidity, followed 

by bronchitis and diarrhea. Magdiwang 

has the highest proportion of 0 to less 

than 5 years old who died with 24 deaths 

(1.63%) followed by Ferrol with 8 deaths 

(1.10%). These two municipalities have 

no hospitals and only a Rural Health Unit 

provides health services to the people. The 

municipalities that registered the lowest 

proportion of 0 to less than 5 years old who 

died is San Jose with a proportion of 0.16 

percent and San Andres with a proportion 

of 0.18 percent or a magnitude of 2 and 

3 deaths, respectively. Male deaths are 

slightly higher at 0.63 percent than the 

female deaths at 0.47 percent. In terms of 

urbanity, rural areas registered a higher 

proportion of 0.58 percent compared to 

urban areas of 0.45 percent. This could be 

due to the accessibility of health facility in 

the urban areas. 


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56 

Table 20: Magnitude and Proportion of Children aged 0 to Less Than 5 Years Old who Died, by Sex, 

by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 17. Proportion of Children Aged 0 to Less than 5 years old who Died 


Proportion of Infants who Died 

On the proportion of infant deaths, the 

province reported a magnitude of 96 out 

of the 5,221 children aged 0 to less than 1 

year old or a proportion of 1.81 percent. 

Based on the report from the Provincial 

Health Office, Sepsis Neonatorum and 

Sudden Infant Death are among the top 

leading causes of infant mortality. Again, 

the municipalities that recorded the highest 

proportions are Magdiwang with 19 deaths 

out of 280 children aged 0 to less than 1 

year old or a staggering proportion of 6.35 

percent, followed by Ferrol with 7 deaths 

out of 144 or a proportion of 4.64 percent. 

The municipality that registered the lowest 


Table 21: Magnitude and Proportion of Infants who Died, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


infant death is San Andres with 1 death out 

of 225 or a proportion of 0.44 percent. On 

gender, male proportion of infant death 

is higher at 2.09 percent compared to the 

female data of 1.50 percent. On urbanity, 

rural areas registered a slightly higher 

proportion of 1.73 percent as compared to 

the 1.6 registered by the urban areas. 

Proportion of Children Aged 1 to Less than 5 Years 

Old who Died 

On the proportion of children aged 1 to 

less than 5 years old who died, the province 

registered 70 deaths out of 24,507 populations 

or a proportion of 0.28 percent. The 

Figure 18. Proportion of Infants who Died 


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58 

Table 22: Magnitude and Proportion of Children Aged 1 to Less Than 5 Years Old who Died, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 19. Proportion of Children Aged 1 to Less than 5 Years Old Who Died 


municipality that registered the highest 

death for this particular age group is Santa 

Fe with 11 deaths out of 1,603 population 

or a proportion of 0.68 percent followed 

by Alcantara with 0.45 and Magdiwang 

with 0.43 percent. Two municipalities 

registered no deaths aged 1 to less than 

5 years old: Concepcion and San Jose. 

Meanwhile, there is a slightly higher proportion 

registered for male at 0.31 percent 

compared to the female proportion of 0.26 

percent. For urbanity, the proportion for 

rural area is higher at 0.31 percent while 

only 0.18 percent in urban area. Again, the 

proximity of the health facility in the urban 

area could be the reason for the much lower 

proportion of deaths in urban areas. 



The provincial officials have prioritized 

health services as evidenced by the many 

health related programs and projects being 

implemented provincewide. Currently, the 

Provincial Government is implementing the 

Provincewide Investment Plan for Health 

(PIPH) with a grant from the European 

Commission (EC) to finance the much 

needed Health Reform Program. The LGUs 

are also aggressively advocating for the 

enrollment of indigents to the Philippine 

Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). 

Under the PIPH, priority programs are 

the upgrading of health facilities into a 

Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and 

Newborn Care (CEMONC) and Basic 

Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care 

(BEMONC) facilities. Municipal Health 

Officers (MHOs) are also advocating for 

facility-based birthing to avoid unnecessary 

birth complications that could reduce, if not 

eliminate, neonatal deaths. 

C. Challenges 

The provincial government operates 8 

hospitals in the province. Because the 

province is dependent on the IRA, there 

is a budgetary constraint particularly in 

the provision of medicines and health 

personnel. The province has to divide 

its meager resources in the operation 

of the 8 hospitals. At the LGU level, the 

rural health units are having difficulty in 

providing basic health care because of 

inadequate health facilities. 


59

60 


Cajidiocan Barangay Health 

Station (BHS) Full Fix Project 

The project seeks to revitalize and refurbish 

all BHSs into full functional facilities 

which are able to provide complete basic 

health services to the community as well as 

birthing facilities in identified barangays. 

Key elements of the project are as follows: 

1. Establishment of functional BHS that 

meets the health needs of community members; 

2. Better health outcomes, specially improved 

maternal and child health indices; 

3. Health-empowered, educated and selfreliant 

community; 

4. Institution of better, efficient, organized 

health and referral system within 

communities. 

The project brings into light the importance 

and usefulness of integrating a primary 

health care approach, bringing healthcare as 

close as possible to the people and ensuring 

availability, accessibility and affordability 

of promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative 

services. Health workers and barangays 

leaders are now empowered as they 

are trained and are mainly involved in this 

endeavor. It promotes maximum community 

and individual self reliance and participation 

in the planning, organization, operation and 

control of health programs in the barangay. 

Ultimately, it will contribute to the attainment 

of MDG targets of reducing child mortality 

and improving maternal health. 


Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health 

Target 5.A: Reduce by three quarters, 

between 1990 and 2015, the maternal 

mortality ratio 


Proportion of Women Deaths Due to Pregnancy- 

Related Causes 

Based on CBMS data, the province 

recorded a magnitude of 12 women deaths 

due to pregnancy-related causes in 2007, 

registering a proportion of 0.23. The reason 

for the high occurrence of maternal deaths 

is due to lack of adequate health facility and 

apparatus, such as life support system and 

other modern technology that could prevent 

loss of lives. 

The municipality that registered the 

highest proportion of women deaths due 

to pregnancy related causes is Concepcion 

with a proportion of 1.72 percent while 

the municipality that registered the highest 

number of deaths is San Fernando with a 

magnitude of three deaths. Nine municipalities 

registered no deaths due to pregnancy 

related causes. On urbanity, there is no 

pronounced disparity between the rural and 

urban area when it comes to this indicator. 

Target 5.B: Achieve by 2015, universal 

access to reproductive health 

Proportion of Couples Who Use Contraception 

On contraceptive prevalence rate, the 

provincial data for the same period showed 

a proportion of 32.08. This shows that 


61

Figure 20. Proportion of Women Deaths due to Pregnancy-Related Causes 

62 

Table 23: Magnitude and Proportion of Women Deaths due to Pregnancy Related Causes, by Urbanity, 

by Municipality, 2007 



majority of the couples in the province do 

not practice any family planning method. 

The provincial data is much lower than 

the national benchmark of 40 percent 

prevalence rate in 1993 and 50.7 percent 

in 2008. The municipality that registered 

the highest contraceptive prevalence rate 

in the province is Odiongan with a proportion 

of 46.43 while San Fernando registered 

the lowest proportion of 19.64 percent. 

The municipality of Odiongan is a 2nd 

class municipality with the most number of 

population as well as the most urbanized 

municipality in the province. San Fernando 

on the other hand is relatively parochial with 

remote barangays. 


Table 24: Magnitude and Proportion of Couples who Use Contraception, by Urbanity, 




The national government together with 

the local health functionaries is implementing 

the policy of facility-based birthing 

to address maternal health concerns. 

Measures have been undertaken to ensure 

that all deliveries should be attended by 

trained health personnel. Efforts to train 

all “hilots” provincewide were facilitated 

by the Center for Health Development 

(CHD) IV-B and the Provincial Health Office 

(PHO) to reduce maternal deaths as well 

as neonatal deaths. All hospitals under 

the provincial government are equipped 

to handle obstetric emergencies including 

caesarean operations. With the European 

Figure 21. Proportion of Couples who Use Contraception 


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64 

Commission (EC) grant under the FOURmula 

One (F1) for Health program, the provincial 

government is currently implementing 

a provincewide health investment plan 

designed to upgrade health facilities including 

the Rural Health Units (RHUs). Under the 

program, all hospitals will be upgraded into 

a standard CEMONC facility and the RHUs 

into a standard BEMONC facility. Currently, 

the province has started an initiative on 

massive training of medical staff as well as 

non-health personnel to enhance delivery 

of health services in the province. 

Local initiatives to improve maternal 

health care includes the deputizing of 

Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) to 

monitor pregnant women in their areas 

and make sure that they submit themselves 

to pre-natal check-ups. The MHOs and 

midwives schedule area visits to barangays 

to conduct examinations on a regular basis. 

Both provincial and municipal local government 

units are also pursuing Philhealth 

accreditation of health facilities so that 

health services will be more accessible to 

the poor members of the community. Enrollment 

to the Philhealth Sponsorship Program 

for indigents are also given attention so that 

the less fortunate can readily avail of health 

services/facilities through the Philippine 

Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC). 

C. Challenges 

Despite the efforts of both the national 

and local governments to provide basic 

maternal health care services, there are 

still cases of maternal deaths as well as 


neonatal deaths. This can be attributed to 

the inadequacy of modern facilities in the 

province, particularly diagnostic facilities 

and life support system for dire conditions. 

Moreover, the absence of specialized 

medical practitioners in times of complicated 

situations is another concern as the 

province cannot afford to employ them. 

On the side of the populace, there are 

still pregnant women who refuse to seek 

prenatal check-up and engage untrained 

hilots during delivery. There is still a need 

for massive information dissemination to the 

community on the risk involved regarding 

maternal health in order to achieve a 100 

percent prenatal/post-partum consultations 

and facility based deliveries. High-Risk 

pregnancies, including old age and short 

birth spacing also pose a challenge. 

Although the concept of family planning 

has been institutionalized in the maternal 

health care packages and reproductive 

health services, acceptance of the program 

continued to be lukewarm. In the province, 

most people, particularly the members of 

the marginalized sector, still believe that 

children are wealth, hence, the more the 

better, without giving thought on how to 

feed them and provide them proper health 

coverage and education. On the other 

hand, for those people who wanted to avail 

of certain family planning commodities, 

shortage of supply are also noted in certain 

Family Planning Centers because of limited 

funds of the LGUs to procure these goods. 

There is also the issue of the church against 

contraceptives and some elective officials 

are reluctant to go against the church. 


With the implementation of the Provincewide 

Investment Plan for Health (PIPH), 

there is a massive promotion of innovative 

practices that may be replicated in the province. 

The doctors and health practitioners in 

the province participated in several “Lakbay 

Aral” to see the best practices and innovative 

approaches on health related initiatives 

of other provinces. Some MHOs are trying 

to duplicate these undertakings in their respective 

areas of responsibilities. 

Cajidiocan Buntis Baby Bank Project 

Th e Buntis Baby Bank (BBB) Project aims 

to achieve better maternal health outcomes by 

encouraging mothers to avail of complete and 

quality maternal care thru prenatal check-ups as 

well as facilitate postnatal visits. 

BBB functions by assigning a “baby bank” made 

of bamboo to all pregnant mothers seeking prenatal 

care at the RHU. Every visit to the RHU, 

the mother is reminded to drop their savings to 

their bank. Relatives, friends, RHU staff , LGU 

offi cials or any person willing to drop any amount 

are encouraged to do so until delivery date. Th e 

mother is required to deliver either at the RHU 

or hospital. Home deliveries forfeit the mother’s 

withdrawal of the savings. 

Th e project encouraged more prenatal visits 

especially from mothers in their 1st trimester. 

Risk of maternal mortality and neonatal mortality 

has been decreased through implementation 

of facility-based deliveries. Th e health fi nancing 

scheme has assisted the mothers fi nancially to 

prepare for a safe delivery. 

With the success of the project in the municipalities, 

other LGUs are also signifying their 

intent to replicate the BBB scheme. In the municipality 

of Cajidiocan, four (4) barangays also 

adopted the Buntis Baby Bank Project. 


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Goal 6: Combat HIV/ AIDS, 

Malaria and Other Diseases 

Target 6.A: Have halted by 2015 and 

begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS 


Proportion of Couples Using Condom Among Those 

who are Practicing Contraception 

HIV/AIDS cases in the province is 

basically nil or non-existent as there 

is no case recorded by the Provincial 

Health Office. With regard to data 

on the proportion of couples using 

condom among those who are practicing 

contraception, the province recorded 

a very negligible proportion of 1.45 

percent or a magnitude of 194 out of a 


total 13,379 couples practicing family 

planning based on CBMS 2007 data. 

The national statistic is 1.6 percent in 

2006. The municipality that recorded 

the highest proportion of couples using 

condom among those who are practicing 

contraception is Magdiwang with 

3.93 percent while the municipality 

that registered the lowest proportion is 

Calatrava with 0.20 percent. Couples in 

the province are basically not worried 

about being infected with Sexually- 

Transmitted Disesases (STDs) since most 

of them are faithful to their partners. For 

urban areas, the proportion of couples 

using condom among those practicing 

family planning is visibly higher at a 


Table 25: Magnitude and Proportion of Couples Using Condom Among Those who are 

Practicing Contraception, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


2.17 percent proportion compared to 

the proportion of 1.29 percent for rural 

areas. 

Target 6.C: Have halted by 2015 and 

begun to reverse the incidence of malaria 

and other major diseases 

Death rates associated with malaria 

Based on the report from the Provincial 

Health Office, the province has been 

declared malaria-free for several years 

already. However, CBMS data recorded 

a magnitude of 5 deaths—3 males and 

2 females—out of the total population of 

Figure 22. Proportion of Couples Using Condom Among Those who are Practicing Contraception 


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Table 26. Magnitude and Proportion of Deaths Associated with Malaria, by 

252,690 or a proportion of Sex, by Municipality 

1.98 percent. The reason 

for this is that, local folks 

have no knowledge regarding 

the disease and may 

have associated chills and 

high fever with malaria and 

responded to the survey 

with such belief. According 

to the MHOs, since it is not 

an ordinary illness but rather 

a technical term and needs 

thorough medical examinations, 

caution should be 

exercised in asking them 

survey questions. Death 

certificates that state the Source: CBMS Database 2007 

cause of death need to be 

presented to avoid misunderstanding. 

Death Rates Associated with Tuberculosis 

Figure 23. Death rates associated with Malaria 

On prevalence and death rates associated 

with tuberculosis, the province registered 

a total magnitude of 118 deaths—79 males 

and 39 females—out of the 252,690 population 

or a very high proportion of 46.68 

percent. The high proportion of deaths 

associated with tuberculosis is attributed 


to the attitude of the people of ignoring the 

symptoms and not seeking early treatment. 

Santa Maria had the highest proportion with 

8 out of 7,163, or a staggering proportion of 

111.56 percent followed by Alcantara with 

12 deaths out of 12,330 (97.23%). Only 

San Andres did not register any deaths 

associated with tuberculosis. 

On this particular indicator, data shows 

that there are more male deaths associated 

with the disease at a proportion of 61.83 

percent, almost double the proportion of 

31.19 percent registered by female deaths. 

This is probably due to the fact that more 

males drink alcohol and take cigarettes 

than females, and cause to aggravate 

the illness, resulting to more cases and 

eventually may lead to mortality. The 

current status shows that there is a considerable 

magnitude of people infected with 

tuberculosis as the proportion of deaths 

implied. But the LGUs/RHUs need to verify 

these findings so as to properly document 


Table 27: Magnitude and Proportion of Deaths Associated with Tuberculosis, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


the cases—from containing the disease to 

curing those infected—and considerably 

lower the prevalence and death associated 

with tuberculosis by 2015. For urbanity, the 

proportion for rural areas is much higher 

at 48.00 percent compared to the urban 

proportion of only 40.10 percent. This 

could be due to the fact that cases in the 

urban areas are easily monitored than in 

the rural areas. 


The national government has a long 

term policy on treatment and cure of 

communicable diseases including malaria, 

tuberculosis and dengue. The Center for 

Health Development provides medicines 

Figure 24. Death rates associated with tuberculosis 


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and logistics support to local governments 

to combat these diseases. The LGUs on the 

other hand implement these programs and 

try to contain cases and provide curative 

treatment. The RHUs conduct sputum and/ 

or x-ray tests and provide treatment to those 

with positive results. 

C. Challenges 

Although tuberculosis is now a curable 

disease, it is sad to note that there are 

still plenty of cases of death associated 

with the disease. One major hindrance in 

fully implementing the tuberculosis control 

program is the attitude of the people 

themselves, particularly those in remote 

barangays, of ignoring the symptoms 

associated with tuberculosis. Unless the 

patient actually coughs blood, most people 

showing symptoms of the disease do not 

seek consultation and just go on with their 

daily lives, as if everything is fine. Hence, if 

the disease is already at its worst stage with 

complications, even if they seek treatment at 

LGU Health Scorecard 

With the implementation of the PIPH, there 

is a massive information campaign on improving 

health statistics through LGU scorecards 

that shows each municipality’s past and current 

standing on program implementation. Th is encourages 

those that do not fare well to improve 

their standing by closely scrutinizing the causes 

and reasons for such lower accomplishments and 

exploring ways to improve them. RHUs are also 

encouraged to seek accreditation to be a Tuberculosis 

Directly Observed Treatment Scheme 

(TB DOTS) center to better provide rehabilitative 

intervention to patients with tuberculosis. 


this stage, it is already too late. At this point, 

sometimes death is inevitable because the 

body’s resistance is already gone. The 

“bahala na” (come what may) attitude that 

consigns their fate to God sometime hinders 

the immediate provision of treatment that 

can prevent loss of life. This is one of the 

tough challenges for the LGUs and the 

province to surmount, and to effectively 

provide the necessary intervention to those 

in need of medical attention. 

Another challenge relative to the issue 

is how to encourage the people to submit 

themselves for sputum test. People in 

remote areas tend to be unaware of the 

varied health services provided by the 

government. Likewise, poverty also played 

a major role in their choice of not availing 

the services as they really have to spend 

money for transportation expenses and 

minimal amount for the sputum test. These 

reasons discourage the really poor people 

to seek medical intervention even if they 

suspect that they are ill. 


Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability 

Target 7.C: Halve by 2015, the 

proportion of people without sustainable 

access to safe drinking water and basic 

sanitation 


Proportion of Population With Access to Safe 

Drinking water 

CBMS database 2007 reveals that the 

magnitude of population with access to safe 

drinking water in the province is 192,647 

(76.28%). For urbanity, accessibility to safe 

drinking water is better at the urban areas 

(89.07%) compared to the 73.37 percent 

recorded for the rural areas. Available data 

at the national level is 80.2 percent in 2004. 

The municipality that registered the highest 

proportion is Alcantara with a proportion of 

92.19 percent. On the other hand, Banton 

registered the lowest proportion with only 

46.63 percent, showing that more than 

half of its population has no access to safe 

drinking water, followed by Cajidiocan 

with a proportion of 53.41 percent, or a 

population magnitude of 2,379 and 10,591 

respectively. The scarcity of water in the 

island municipality of Banton is a perennial 

problem while Cajidiocan has some water 

sources but needs massive logistics support 

to tap them for household consumption. 

With careful allocation of resources to 

finance water development initiatives, the 

province has a big chance in attaining the 

national target of 86.5 percent come 2015. 


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Table 28: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population With Access to Safe Drinking Water, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 25. Proportion of Population with Access to Safe Drinking Water 


Proportion of Population With Access to Sanitary 

Toilet Facility 

On access to sanitary toilet facility, the 

provincial data revealed that there are 

180,268 magnitude of population with 

access to sanitary toilet facility representing 

a proportion of 71.38 percent. Available 

national data for 2004 is 86.2 percent. Like 

in water access, the data for the proportion 

of population with access to sanitary toilet 

facility is more than 10 percent higher in 

the urban areas with a proportion of 81.47 

percent compared to the 70.03 percent 

proportion for the rural areas. The municipality 

that posted that highest proportion 


Table 29: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population With Access to Sanitary Toilet Facility, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


is Concepcion with 89.36 

percent followed by Banton 

with 80.60 percent. Lowest 

proportion was posted 

by San Jose with 58.02 

percent and Corcuera with 

58.36 percent. With massive 

information campaign on 

the importance of having 

sanitary toilet facility to 

avoid diseases, there is 

a possibility that we can 

improve on this indicator to 

contribute to the national 

target of 83.8 percent come 

2015. 

Figure 26. Proportion of Population With Access to Sanitary Toilet Facility 


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Table 30: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Who Are Informal Settlers, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Figure 27. Proportion of Population who are Informal Settlers 


Target 7.D: By 2020, to have achieved a 

significant improvement in the lives of at 

least 100 million slum dwellers 

Proportion of Population Who are Informal Settlers 

Categorically, there are no slum dwellers in 

the province. What it has instead are informal 

settlers. The CBMS definition of informal 

settlers are those living in houses without 

permission from the land owner. Based on the 

data, there are 2,854 Romblomanons (1.13%) 

in 601 households considered as informal 

settlers. There is a discernable difference in 

urbanity with the proportion in urban areas 

slightly higher at 1.48 percent compared to 

the 0.97 percent proportion for rural areas. 


Table 31: Magnitude and Proportion of Households and Population Lliving in Makeshift Housing, by Sex, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


Magdiwang registered the highest proportion 

of informal settlers with 6.39 percent, 

followed by Santa Fe with a proportion of 

2.38 percent. Majority of the informal settlers 

in Magdiwang can be found along the wharf 

and surrounding the coastal areas. The local 

chief executive (LCE) of Magdiwang has 

already provided intervention of relocating 

some of these families in a housing resettlement 

area. Corcuera is the only municipality 

with no informal settlers. 

Proportion of Population who are Living in 

Makeshift housing 

Makeshift housing refers to those houses 

built from scrap or salvage materials. On 

Figure 28. Proportion of Population who are Living in Makeshift Housing 


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Figure 29. Proportion of Population Living in Inadequate Housing Conditions 


this particular indicator, there are 5,344 

members (2.12%) in 1,173 households 

living in makeshift housing. Concepcion 

registered the highest proportion with 

households living in makeshift housing 

with 4.66 percent. Concepcion is an 

island municipality and farthest from the 

provincial capital. Most of these people 

are marginal farmers and fishermen with 

no alternative or additional sources of 

income, hence, cannot really afford to 

buy durable materials for their houses. 

The lowest proportion in this indicator 

was recorded at Banton with a meager 

proportion of 0.37 percent. The reason 

for this is that there are a lot of members 

living abroad who send remittances to 


their relatives in the province as well as 

the many professionals in the municipality, 

particularly teachers. 

Proportion of Population Living in Inadequate 

Housing Conditions 

People living in inadequate living 

conditions are in one or more of the 

following conditions: without access to 

safe drinking water, without access to 

sanitary toilet facility, living in makeshift 

housing and without security of tenure. 

The 2007 CBMS data revealed that 

108,901 of the Romblomanons (43.12%) 

are having inadequate living conditions 

of which more of them are found in rural 

areas (46.18%) as against the 26.45 

percent in the urban areas. Due to the 

problem of water access in Banton, 

the municipality likewise registered the 

highest proportion of population living in 

inadequate situation (58.96%), followed 

by Corcuera with 56.94 percent and 

Cajidiocan with 55.57 percent. The three 

municipalities showed that more than half 

of their population is living in inadequate 

living condition. However, if accessibility 

to water and sanitation is addressed, 

this indicator would greatly improve. The 

municipality that registered the lowest 

proportion in this indicator is Alcantara 



The local governments in the province 

have always prioritized programs and 

projects that would have a direct impact 

on the three targets under environmental 

sustainability as can be gleaned in the 

projects implemented under the Annual 

Development Plan. 

To reverse the loss of environmental resources, 

the provincial government implemented 

several programs, such as the Romblon 

Integrated Coastal and Marine Resources 

Management for Sustainable Development 

(RICMRM). Under the program, each local 

government unit is encouraged to provide 

for a marine sanctuary and rehabilitate the 

mangroves to sustain marine life. Likewise, 

LGUs are encouraged to implement a Solid 

Waste Management Program to make sure 

that waste are properly disposed and does 

not pose a threat to the community and 

the environment. In addition, the province 

continuously support the Community Forest 

Resource Management Program and discouraged 

the “kaingin system” (slash and 

burn) way of farming to preserve the water 

resources and watershed areas. 

On water accessibility, the local governments 

have been pursuing spring development 

initiatives, including provision of 

artesian wells to provide water access to 

most of the households. Every year, the 

province allocates a certain amount under 

the 20 percent ADF for water supply facilities 

and monitors the Rural Water Supply 

Sanitation Sector Project (RW3SP) program 

of the national government to rehabilitate 

the facilities. On the other hand, sanitary 

toilet facilities are periodically assessed 

by local sanitary inspectors and are being 

monitored by the Provincial Health Office. 

All these programs/projects/activities 

are being undertaken by the local governments 

to make sure that their constituents 

are well provided with the basic services 

that would improve the general welfare of 

the people and relieve the impoverishment 

experienced by the marginalized sector of 

the community. 


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78 

C. Challenges 

Inadequate financial resources is the 

major hindrance in providing the basic 

services for the people and improving 

their situation. The local government can 

only prioritize certain programs but cannot 

implement all the necessary interventions 

to make life easier for everybody. In 

the case of island municipalities, water 

scarcity is almost a year-round problem, 

particularly for those households whose 

main water source is rain collector. The 


Waste Segregation Management 

The municipality of Odiongan 

heeded the call to give priority to 

the environment by implementing a 

waste segregation scheme as early as 

the late 1990s. Biodegradable and 

non-biodegradable waste were collected 

separately on specifi c schedules 

then brought to a controlled 

dumpsite. Later, the LGU was able 

to establish a sanitary land fi ll, an 

organic fertilizer plant and several 

materials recovery facilities. To date, 

Odiongan is the only municipality 

in the province with a Solid Waste 

Management Plan. 

local governments cannot afford to 

embark into massive infrastructure for 

sustainable water facility and this remains 

to be the major concerns of the people 

in this areas. With water problem comes 

the sanitation concern for toilet facilities. 

In the absence of water, the local 

government cannot implement an effective 

campaign for sanitary toilet facilities, as 

they go hand-in-hand. For municipalities 

with water problem, these two indicators 

are the challenges that need to be given 

solution. 

Th e Sangguniang Bayan of Odiongan 

passed several ordinances 

to wit: 

• SB Resolution No. 2009-13 

and Ordinance No. 2009-5 – ordinance 

prohibiting plastic bags 

on dry goods and regulating its 

utilization on wet goods and prohibiting 

the use of styrofoam in 

the municipality and prescribing 

penalties thereof. 

• SB Resolution No. 2009-24 – 

ordinance creating the Municipal 

Waste Management Board 

Contributed by: Rosebi Agaloos, MPDC, LGU-Odiongan 


Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership 

for Development 

Target 8.a: In cooperation with 

pharmaceutical companies, provide 

access to affordable essential drugs in 

developing countries 


Providing accessibility to affordable 

essential drugs in the province 

is a priority program of the provincial 

government. The Sangguniang Panlala- 

wigan of Romblon passed Resolution 

No. 02-2009-12 embodying Provincial 

Ordinance No. 2 series of 2009, institutionalizing 

the “Botika ng Lalawigan 

ng Romblon” (BLR) to make sure that 

affordable essential drugs can be 

readily accessed by the poor. In the 

LGUs, the establishment of the “Botika 

ng Barangay” (BNB) is gaining ground 

and is now a very visible presence in 

remote and far-flung areas. 


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„Staying Alive with 

BNB and Running Over‰ 

People in the municipality of 

San Agustin used to depend on 

the available medicines that could 

be provided for free by the Rural 

Health Unit and the adjacent 

Tablas T 

Island District Hospital. 

It has always been a big problem, 

especially for poor families, where to get prescription 

medicines when it is not available at 

the health facilities, or whom to approach for 

fi nancial support. 

To solve this dilemma, LGU-San Agustin 

initiated the establishment of “Botika ng Barangay” 

(BNB) through the DOH-CHD IV-B 

in 2005. It was piloted in one of the remote 

barangays and because of its success it grew to 

a total of eight BNB outlets at present. Th e 

presence of these BNB Outlets has ultimately 

increased the access of the poor people living 

in the barrios to commonly bought overthe-counter 

generic medicine and selected 

prescription drugs, particularly antibiotics at 

much aff ordable prices. Th e project also promotes 

community involvement in safekeeping, 

utilization and fi nancing of medicines, giving 

them sense of ownership, thus, making them 

more responsive and responsible individuals 

accountable to its sustainability and to the 

health needs of the community. Th e result, is 

that it eliminates unnecessary morbidities and 

mortalities resulting from inability to buy or 

acquire common medicines. Along with intensifi 

ed preventive measures, continued health 

advocacies, appropriate lifestyle modifi cations, 

and much stronger support for health initiatives 

by the LGU as well as cooperation of NGOs 

and other worthy organizations, the BNBs will 

surely be instrumental in improving the healthseeking 

behavior of the poor people and would 

pave the way for healthier communities. 

Contributed by: Dr. Deogracias S. Muleta, MHO, LGU-San Agustin 


Target 8.F: In cooperation with the 

private sector, make available the 

benefit of new technologies, especially 

information and communication 

Proportion of the Households with Landlines/ 

Telephone lines 

With regard to access to the outside 

world, the province has communication 

facilities, though only a small percentage 

of the population actually utilize them. 

Based on CBMS data, the households with 

landline/telephone lines in the province is 

a meager 1,069 households or a proportion 

of only 1.21 percent. Understandably, 

majority of these households can be found 

in the urban areas. Odiongan posted the 

highest proportion of households with 

landlines/telephone lines (4.47%), followed 

by Romblon with 2.81 percent. These two 

LGUs are considered the growth centers 

for economic development in the province. 

The municipality that posted the lowest 

proportion is Ferrol with 0.37 percent. 

Understandably, urban areas posted a 

higher proportion of 4.27 percent as against 

the 1.35 percent proportion for the rural 

areas. 

Proportion of the Households with Cellphones 

Data reveals that there are 15,241 

households with cellphones or a proportion 

of 26.96 percent. Again, majority of 

these households are in the urban areas 

with 39.82 percent compared to the 24.02 

percent in the rural areas. Looc registered 

the highest proportion of households with 

cell phones at 34.18 percent, followed 

by Odiongan with 33.49 percent. The 

low percentage of rural households 

with cellphones was due to difficulty in 


Table 33: Magnitude and Proportion of Households with Landlines/Telephone Lines, by Urbanity, 



accessing network signals. Corcuera 

has the least number of household with 

cellphones (16.44%). 

Proportion of the Households with Computers 

There are 2,169 households (3.84%) 

with computers. Again, majority of these 

households are in urban areas with a (7.28%) 

as compared to the 3.05 percent in the rural 

areas. Likewise, Odiongan registered the 

highest proportion of households with 

computer (6.28%), followed by Alcantara 

with 5.44 percent. San Jose registered 

the lowest proportion of households with 

computer at 1.38 percent, then Ferrol with 

1.48 percent. San Jose does not enjoy a 

24-hour electricity which could account 

Figure 30. Proportion of Households with Landlines/Telephone Lines 


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Figure 31. Proportion of Households with Cellphones 

Table 34: Magnitude and Proportion of Households with Cellphones, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 


for the low proportion of households with 

computers. 

On this particular MDG goal, the 

province, with its numerous limiting factors, 

cannot meaningfully contribute to the 

country’s target of developing a global 

partner for development. Nonetheless, 

the Local Development Councils (LDC) 

are doing their best to utilize the meager 

resources available to pursue development 

projects toward poverty alleviation 

as well as enhance the economic and 

social condition of the people that could 

lay the groundwork for a more empowered 

citizenry. 


Table 35: Magnitude and Proportion of Households with Computers, by Urbanity, by Municipality, 2007 



The Local Government Code serves as 

anchor points for the Provincial Government 

of Romblon’s development policies 

and programs toward building self-reliant 

communities and to further our contribution 

to the attainment of national goals. Out of 

the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), at least 

20 percent is earmarked for development 

plans, programs and activities. The Local 

Development Councils (LDCs) prioritized 

the different development initiatives to be 

undertaken by the LGUs and most of these 

are geared towards the improvement of the 

well being of the Romblomanons. Improve- 

Figure 32. Proportion of Households with Computers 


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ment of access to communication facilities 

and provision of affordable essential drugs 

are among the programs financed under the 

Annual Development Plan of the province. 

C. Challenges 

Romblon province is archipelagic in 

nature comprising more than 20 major 

islands and islets scattered at the center 

of the Philippines. Narrow strips of coastal 

lowlands, low hills and plains typify the 

topography of most of the islands. The 

geographic situation of the province is 

basically the major challenge in terms of 

accessibility. Although communication 

facilities are available, some areas are 

experiencing internet-access difficulties 

and low cellphone signals due to dead 

spots. Even after installation of telecom- 


munication relay stations, still, those areas 

blocked by mountain ranges experience 

difficulty in accessing better network 

signal. The current communication services 

are not stable and do not allow full 

accessibility for information exchange with 

only a few being capable to maximize 

access to the wide range of information 

available in the world wide web. 

Another major challenge for the province 

is transportation accessibility. Though it has 

ports and motorboats, it is very expensive 

to transport goods from island to island. 

Bridging the islands together to fully allow 

maximum movement within the province 

for easier and cheaper accessibility of 

products, resources and even job opportunities 

is one of the toughest challenges of 

the province. 


Achieving the MDG challenge is quite 

a task that necessitates the convergence 

of national and local agencies, including 

active participation of the NGOs operating 

in the area as well as cooperation of the 

community. The inadequacy of logistics, 

particularly funding support to spur massive 

economic growth will hamper some of our 

efforts; nonetheless, with the concerted 

efforts of all stakeholders and with proper 

prioritization of our meager resources, 

the province hopes to ultimately make an 

inroad in achieving the MDG targets and 

alleviating the poverty situation provincewide. 

1. Priority Programs and Policy 

Responses 

Given the socioeconomic condition of the 

province, including its very unique physical 

characteristics, the first priority of all LCEs 

is to promote economic development while 

attempting to expand delivery of basic 

services. The latter could not be relegated 

to the background as it is the primary duty 

of every LGU. The more rampant poverty 

is, the bigger the need and necessity for the 

provision of these services, particularly on 

Part 3. Meeting 

the 2015 Challenge 

health and sanitation, food and nutrition, 

shelter, education, even financial assistance 

for those in crises situation in the form of 

Aid in Crisis Situation (AICS). Provision of 

basics services drains much of the coffers 

of any poor LGU and the dilemma of each 

LCE is how to go about improving the 

socioeconomic condition of the poverty 

stricken constituents given the scarce 

financial resources. The challenge lies in 

the proper management and utilization of 

our vast natural resources, particularly our 

fishing grounds rich in marine products, as 

well as our marble reserves. 

A. Poverty Alleviation and Hunger Mitigation 

Economic development is the key in 

eradicating poverty and mitigating hunger. 

To provide a better climate for the establishment 

of small scale industries, provision of 

incentives such as tax breaks for the first year 

of operation could encourage new players. 

To feed this new industry, it is imperative to 

maximize agricultural production by utilizing 

all spare lands. Taxes on idle lands could be 

levied so that owners would be encouraged 

to make it productive. Modern agricultural 

inputs and innovative technologies suited to 


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86 

our land should be employed to maximize 

production. Marginalized farmers and 

fishermen should be given social preparation 

to form People’s Organizations (POs) 

or cooperatives for them to be able to rise 

from economic bondage. Intensify livestock 

and poultry production so that the province 

will no longer import dressed chickens and 

eggs from our neighboring provinces. The 

coconut industry must be given attention; 

improved varieties should be introduced 

to boost copra production that could be a 

smallscale industry for oil or soap. Likewise, 

the marble industry could need assessment 

for new product development and improved 

market linkages. Tourism is also a potential 

industry to look into. 

B. Universal Primary and Secondary 

Education 

With the implementation of the Local 

Government Code, the LGUs were 

empowered to address issues and concerns 

regarding education through the Local 

School Boards (LSB) with finances coming 

from the Special Education Fund (SEF). 

The national government likewise provides 

logistics support for the policy “education 

for all”. Though elementary and high 

school education is free, the problem of 

low participation rate remains. This is the 

challenge that needs immediate attention. 

Expanding pre-elementary education 

services of DepEd would help students in 

terms of readiness in transition to elementary. 

Strengthening the ECCD and daycare 

services and require all 3-5 year old-children 

to attend will help instill the habit of going 

to school everyday. This could reduce 

dropouts in elementary education. For 

those who really cannot go to school 

for reasons, the DepEd provision of ALS 


should be intensified including provision of 

additional SPED classes for those children 

with special needs. Likewise, the “Tuloy 

Aral Walang Sagabal” (TAWAG) program 

of the DSWD should be expanded to cover 

all municipalities. Improvement of school 

facilities including provision of books and 

instructional materials will also inspire 

children to study. Local School Boards 

should look deeper into the issue of low 

participation in both elementary and high 

school, including the case of more boys 

not going to school. Reasons for dropouts 

must be evaluated for proper strategies and 

solutions to be implemented. 

C.Gender Equality and Women Empowerment 

There is no gender disparity in access 

to primary and secondary educational 

system in the province. However, there is 

a pronounced trend of lower proportion 

of males going to schools, particularly 

in secondary and tertiary education. To 

address this concern, a study must be 

made as to the real reasons why, so that 

adequate policies and interventions could 

be put in place. For women empowerment, 

provision of livelihood skills training with 

gender advocacy could increase their 

self-esteem in order to be productive 

members of the community. The establishment 

of a One-Stop-Shop for victims 

of abuse and the Women’s Desk will 

encourage more women to report cases 

of atrocities. Information and dissemination 

of the VAWC law will help decrease 

marital abuses including maltreatment 

of children. To encourage more women 

to seek elected position and serve their 

communities, women success stories in 

the area of governance could facilitate 

realizations that they could also make a 


difference and contribute to the well-being 

of the community. 

D.Health Reform Program 

The implementation of the PIPH under the 

FOURmula One for Health program has 

provided a wide array of health-related 

programs and intervention geared toward 

the achievement of improving health indices. 

To effect the immediate realization of the 

program, there is a need to expedite the 

implementation of all program components 

as well as replicate good practices. To 

sustain the program, there is a need to 

strengthen the Inter Local Health Zones 

(ILHZ), particularly the referral system. 

Involvement and active participation of all 

stakeholders, particularly the MHOs can 

make a lot of difference, particularly in service 

delivery and implementation of innovative 

program interventions. Most importantly, 

the LCEs, being the head of the LGU must 

be in the forefront of this programfor the 

necessary logistics and leadership to make 

the health reform program effective and 

successful. In addition, implementation of 

the Responsible Parenting Movement (RPM) 

through parents’ association could generally 

encourage couples to practice birth spacing 

using any given method acceptable to them. 

Likewise, the Adolescent Health and Youth 

Development programs would also address 

the issues of teenage pregnancies, drug 

addiction, alcoholism and other juvenile 

related problems to make the health reform 

program into a holistic approach. 

E. Environmental Sustainability and Improving 

the Lives of Slum Dwellers 

The problem of dwindling natural resources 

in most cases is irreversible, particularly 

coastal and marine ecosystem. Strict 

implementation of environmental laws must 

be adhered to stop the degradation and 

start reversing the process. Approval of the 

Sangguniang Panlalawigan on the proposed 

Environmental Code of the province is a 

priority to guide us in our quest of reversing 

the loss of environmental resources. 

Expansion and establishment of fi sh sanctuaries, 

rehabilitation of mangroves and regular 

coastal cleanup can improve our marine 

resources. Reforestation of all forest lands, 

including Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park 

and support the ISF and CBFM programs 

to hasten the recovery of our forest cover. 

Immediate attention must be made to rehabilitate 

our watershed areas to improve current 

water sources. Strengthen the implementation 

of the ICMRM to cover all areas so that 

all economic activities could be monitored. 

Proper mobilization of “Bantay Dagat” 

agents is needed to apprehend encroaching 

fi shing vessels in municipal waters. The strict 

implementation of laws especially obligations 

to comply to fi nes will discourage violators. 

For the informal/illegal settlers, establishment 

of housing projects for their relocation including 

provision of livelihood opportunities will 

dramatically improve their socioeconomic 

condition. For waterless families, improvement 

of water system facility and provision of 

toilet bowls for those without sanitary latrines 

would ensure their health. 

F. Development for Global Partnership 

With the upgrading of the Romblon State 

College into a university, the challenge to 

provide a globally competitive education is 

within our reach. Provision of career options 

particularly for our younger generation 

could bring in development because of 

a highly educated labor force. Priority is 


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the establishment of a Research Facility 

that could do research studies in any field, 

in particular, on the endemic species and 

bio-diversity found in Sibuyan Island, and 

high value agricultural products suited to 

the Romblon’s unique land characteristics. 

Likewise, improvement of internet access 

including relay stations for cell signal to 

increase intercommunication within and 

even outside the country is a must. Encourage 

all High School Principals provincewide 

to include computer literacy in their 

academic curriculum for the students to be 


ready for college life and for their chosen 

field in the future. All these would lead into 

a development that is globally competitive. 

2. Financing the MDGs 

To achieve the MDG targets, a myriad of 

interventions has to be institutionalized and 

implemented to engender the desired results. 

Below are the proposed programs/projects/ 

activities geared toward achieving the MDG 

targets as well as improving the socioeconomic 

conditions of the Romblomanons. 


(Continued) 


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(Continued) 

3. Monitoring the MDGs 

The implementation of the CBMS in the 

province of Romblon had been a laudable 

effort of the provincial government and 

its 17 municipalities. The availability of 

grassroot data at each geopolitical level— 

barangay, municipal and provincial—has 

greatly enhanced analysis of the current 

situation, providing insights as to the 

reasons and underlying causes of the 

condition. The Memorandum of Agreement 

(MOA) between the provincial government, 

PEP-CBMS Network Coordinating Team 

and the other provinces in the MIMAROPA 

Region indicated the underlying commitment 

of the signatories for the updating of 

the CBMS database preferably every three 

(3) years. 

The inclusion of the province in the 

preparation of the Provincial MDG 

Report and with the technical assistance 

provided including the provision of the 

license software Stata, the provincial 

CBMS-MDG Teams has been capacitated 

to prepare this report and in the future can 

generate similar documents. The province 

will update the CBMS database this year 

(2010) and hope to complete the CBMS 

cycle in the 2nd quarter of 2011. After the 

second round of the CBMS implementation, 

the province will spearhead the 

preparation of the provincial MDG Report 

in 2011 and finally in 2015 to determine 

the impact of the programs/projects/ 

activities implemented in response to the 

MDG challenge. 

For the yearly monitoring of the MDGs, 

the province will have to rely on the 

administrative data generated by the different 

provincial offices and other agencies to 

gauge the progress of the indicators being 

monitored. This data will provide us with 

information on a yearly basis the status and 

trends, particularly the education and health 

component of the MDGs. 


A. Preparation of Provincial 

Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs) Report Using CBMS Data 

1. Background and Justification 

The availability of good statistics and the capacity of governments, donors and 

international organizations to systematically measure, monitor and report on 

progress in all social and economic spheres are at the heart of development 

policy and the achievement of the MDGs. 

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 

While progress toward the attainment 

of the Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs) is systematically being measured, 

monitored and reported at the national 

level, clearly, there must be a parallel effort 

at the local level to bring the MDGs into 

the mainstream of the local development 

agenda. 

This is especially called for under 

decentralized regimes where local government 

units (LGUs) are at the forefront of 

policy or program execution. Unfortunately, 

however, national statistical systems have 

yet to respond adequately to the demand 

for micro-level statistics that can aid 

EXPLANATORY TEXT 

LGUs in their poverty alleviation efforts, 

as noted in a joint World Bank and Asian 

Development Bank report, to wit: “the most 

comprehensive and consistent comparative 

subnational data (are) is at the regional 

level although this is simply an administrative 

level of government that has no responsibilities 

for delivery of social services. More 

data (are) is gradually becoming available 

at the provincial level, but not at lower levels 

which are at the frontline of efforts to reduce 

poverty 1 .” 

In response, the Philippine Government 

has embarked on an initiative to localize 

the MDGs using the Community-Based 

Monitoring System (CBMS). In 2005, the 

National Statistical Coordination Board 

(NSCB) issued Resolution No. 6 “recognizing 

and enjoining support to the CBMS 

as a tool for strengthening the statistical 

system at the local level that will generate 

statistics for monitoring and evaluation of 

development plans, including the progress 

of the local governments in attaining the 

Millennium Development Goals.” 

Meanwhile, several approaches are 

being carried out by the Department of 

1 Decentralization in the Philippines: Strengthening Local Government Financing and Resource Management in the Short-Term, 2005 (A Joint Document of the World Bank and 

the Asian Development Bank) 


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the Interior and Local Government (DILG) 

in capacitating LGUs to contribute to the 

attainment of the MDGs and uplifting the 

quality of life of their constituents. These 

interventions are particularly stated in 

DILG Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 

2004-152 “Guide to Local Government 

Units in the Localization of the MDGs” 

dated November 2004, which provides 

for the: (a) menu of Programs, Projects 

and Activities (PPAs) per MDG goal and 

target to guide LGUs in responding to 

the MDGs; (b) diagnosis of the local 

situation using existing local indicators 

and monitoring system; and (c) call for 

documentation and replication of good 

practices. 

The CBMS that is being implemented in 

the Philippines is indeed well-positioned 

to track progress toward the attainment 

of the MDGs at the local level. 

For one, a number of indicators being 

monitored in the CBMS are included 

in the indicators for monitoring the 

progress in achieving the MDGs. 

Moreover, CBMS is intended to be 

done on a regular basis and can 

therefore be used for updating MDG 

indicators and facilitating preparation 

of regular MDG reports. The CBMS 

can also be used as basis by national 

and local governments for costing and 

identifying appropriate interventions 

needed to achieve the MDGs as well as 

for resource allocation. Finally, given 

the large spatial disparities, the CBMS 

can help identify where focus has to be 

given to achieve the targets. 


The CBMS’ role in localizing the MDGs 

was recognized during an Experts Group 

Meeting on Localizing the MDGs held on 

November 28, 2006 at the United Nations 

Economic and Social Commission for Asia 

and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) in Bangkok, 

Thailand. The Committee on Poverty 

Reduction composed of 24 nation-states 

agreed that the CBMS could complement 

the official data collection activities of 

national statistical offices and improve the 

availability of the MDG and other indicators 

at the local level. It also agreed that 

localizing the MDGs through CBMS would 

help integrate the goals into the national 

development strategies. It therefore urged 

other developing countries to initiate and 

implement similar innovative systems that 

would help localize the MDGs. 

As of May 12, 2010, CBMS is being 

implemented in 59 provinces (32 of which 

are province-wide), 687 municipalities and 

43 cities in the Philippines, covering 17,848 

barangays all over the country (see Figure 

33). A good number of these LGUs have 

already consolidated their CBMS databases 

and are well-positioned to generate their 

own local MDG Reports. For one thing, 

CBMS collects information that reflects the 

multi-faceted nature of poverty. In addition, 

data generated by the CBMS can be broken 

down by municipal, barangay, purok 

and even down to the household level, 

thereby presenting meaningful information 

and enabling deeper analysis of the 

poverty situation. Moreover, the CBMS can 

generate color-coded maps showing the 

poverty status at each geopolitical level. 


Figure 33. CBMS Coverage in the Philippines (as of May 12, 2010) 

2. Objectives 

This technical collaboration aims to capacitate 

nine provincial governments to systematically 

measure, monitor and report their status 

with respect to the MDGs. The operative word 

here is status since the provinces used their fi rst 

round of CBMS data in formulating this report. 

These provinces include Agusan del Norte, 

Agusan del Sur, Biliran, Camarines Norte, 

Eastern Samar, Marinduque, Romblon, Sarangani 

and Siquijor. The abovementioned provinces 

were selected since they were among the 

fi rst LGUs that were able to consolidate their 

CBMS databases at the provincial level. The 

CBMS Census was conducted in these prov- 

inces between 2005 and 2007 (for detailed 

information on census years, see Table 38). 

In particular, the technical collaboration was 

carried out to meet the following objectives: 

(i) to track the status on the attainment of 

the MDGs in the identifi ed provinces; (ii) to 

assist these provinces in preparing their Provincial 

MDG Reports; and (iii) to increase local 

awareness on how these reports can bridge 

local and national development strategies. 

3. Expected Outputs 

The technical collaboration is expected to 

produce the following outputs: (i) mentored 


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technical staff of the nine CBMS-partner 

provinces on how to prepare Provincial MDG 

Reports, and (ii) Provincial MDG Reports of 

the nine provinces. 

4. Capacity-Building 

The capacity-building of the Provincial MDG 

Teams consists of three workshops and oneon-one 

mentoring process. 

Workshop on Processing of CBMS Data to 

Generate MDG Indicators. This 2-day activity 

was designed to provide participants with: 

(i) a deeper appreciation of the importance 

of the CBMS in benchmarking/tracking local 

progress toward the attainment of the MDGs; 

(ii) a satisfactory level of knowledge in processing 

CBMS data to facilitate analyses of 

accomplishments versus targets; (iii) some 

basic skills on how to incorporate MDG targets 

in local development plans and facilitate 

corresponding increase in budget allocation 

for MDG-responsive PPAs; and (iv) tools and 

methodologies in formulating MDG reports. 

Preparation of Provincial MDG Reports 

Using CBMS Data. This 2-day activity was 

designed to build on the gains of the fi rst 

workshop by providing technical assistance to 

the Project Teams in (i) processing CBMS data 

to generate the additional MDG indicators 

and consolidating their data at the provincial 

level, (ii) benchmarking/tracking their progress 

toward the attainment of the MDGs , (iii) 

reviewing partial provincial reports based on 

the indicators generated using the fi rst workshop 

, and (iv) fi nalizing list of indicators to be 

included in the report. 


Presentation and Critiquing of Provincial 

MDG Reports. This 3-day activity was 

designed to fi nalize the Provincial MDG 

Reports and at the same time provide an 

opportunity for an exchange of views and 

possible harmonization of approaches as 

well as for the provision of consistent guidance 

to all the Provincial MDG Teams. The 

expected output from this workshop was the 

complete manuscript of the MDG Report 

which already incorporates the comments/ 

inputs of the assigned mentor and resource 

persons who were invited to share their expertise 

during the workshop. 

Mentor/Mentee Relationship. In order to 

ensure a sustained and focused mentoring 

program, a mentor from the Research Team 

of the CBMS Network was matched to one 

Provincial MDG Team. 

The assigned mentor was expected to set 

a specifi c time each week to interact with his/ 

her Provincial MDG Team and discuss the 

following: (1) review progress in drafting the 

Provincial MDG Report, (2) set/identify targets 

for the coming weeks, and (3) draw up an action 

plan to achieve those targets. In addition, 

the mentor was expected to assist his/her assigned 

MDG Team in identifying and solving 

problem areas. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Celia M. Reyes, Anne Bernadette 

E. Mandap and Marsmath A. Baris, 

Jr. reviewed all partial and fi nal reports. The 

technical staff of the NEDA Social Development 

Staff headed by Director Erlinda Capones 

also reviewed and provided valuable 

comments on the reports. 


B. CBMS-MDG Indicators 

Unless otherwise indicated, all the statistical 

tables, graphs, charts and poverty maps 

presented in this report were generated using 

the CBMS methodology. 

Box 1. Community-Based Monitoring System 

The CBMS is an organized way of collecting 

data at the local level to be used by 

local governments, national government 

agencies, nongovernment organizations 

(NGOs) and civil society for planning, 

budgeting, and implementing local development 

programs as well as for monitoring 

and evaluating their performance. It is 

a tool for improved local governance and 

democratic decision-making that promotes 

greater transparency and accountability in 

resource allocation. 

The MDG Indicators, which were estimated using 

CBMS data, are presented in Table 37. 

It involves the following steps: 

Step 1 – Advocacy/organization 

Step 2 – Data collection and fi eld editing 

Step 3 – Data encoding and map digitization 

Step 4 – Data consolidation, database-building 

& poverty mapping 

Step 5 – Data validation and community consultation 

Step 6 – Knowledge (database) management 

Step 7 – Plan formulation 

Step 8 – Dissemination, implementation, and 

monitoring 


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C. Poverty and Food Thresholds 

Official poverty thresholds computed by 

the NSCB were used and, in some cases, 

updated to the reference period for the 

CBMS data by inflating these thresholds 

using the appropriate Consumer Price Index 

(CPI). The poverty and food thresholds used 

for each province are presented in Table 38. 

D. Authority for the CBMS Census 

The NSCB has issued Resolution No. 

6 (2005) which recognizes and enjoins 

support to the CBMS as a tool for 

strengthening the statistical system at 

the local level. It also directs the NSCB 

Technical Staff to initiate and coordinate 

an advocacy program for the adoption 

of the CBMS by the LGUs, through the 

Regional Statistical Coordination Committees 

(RSCCs), the technical arm of the 

NSCB Executive Board in the regions. 

The NSCB has also approved the CBMS 

Survey Instruments through NSCB Approval 

No. DILG-0903-01. 

E. Survey Operations 

All survey operations were undertaken under 

the supervision of the CBMS Technical Working 

Groups (TWGs) at the Provincial and Municipal 

Levels. They identified the local personnel who 

were trained as enumerators and field supervisors. 

Technical assistance was provided by the 

PEP-CBMS Network Coordinating Team, the 

Bureau of Local Government Development 

(BLGD) and Regional Office IV-B of the Department 

of the Interior and Local Government 

(DILG), National Anti-Poverty Commission 

(NAPC), National Economic and Development 

Authority (NEDA) Regional Office IV-B and 

the Institute for Democratic Participation in 

Governance (IDPG). 

Training was mainly conducted at two levels. 

The first level training (Training of Trainors) is 

conducted for members of the TWGs. This is 

usually conducted by members of the research 

staff of the CBMS Network and CBMS accredited 

trainors from the DILG, NAPC and NEDA. 

Meanwhile, a second level training (Training 

of Enumerators) is conducted for enumerators 

who are usually composed of barangay health 


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100 

workers and students. The members of the 

TWG acted as trainors in this training. 

F. Data Processing System 

The data processing software used under 

this project includes the CBMS Data Encoding 

System, the CBMS-Natural Resources 

Database and Stata. 

The CBMS encoding system uses CSPro 

(Census and Survey Processing), a software 

developed by the United States Bureau of 

Census for entering, editing, tabulating, 

and disseminating data from censuses and 

surveys. The CSPro-based (Census and Survey 

Processing) Encoding System converts survey 

data into electronic data. It produces text 

files (ASCII) described by data dictionaries, 

which adds flexibility to the output data. This 

feature facilitates the interface between the 

CBMS data and other database systems and 

statistical softwares. 

The CBMS Mapping system employs the 

Natural Resources Database (NRDB) for 

CBMS-based poverty mapping and for storing 

and displaying household- and individual- 

level information, The CBMS-NRDB is capable 

of creating and storing spatial (shapefiles) 

and non-spatial (texts and numbers) data as 

well as generating maps, reports and graphs 

ideal for presentation and analysis of poverty 

attributes in the community. This has significantly 

addressed the need for a simple yet 

powerful and free geographically-oriented 

database. 

Meanwhile, the CBMS data presented in 

this report through tables, graphs, charts and 

poverty maps were processed using Stata, a 

general-purpose statistical software package 

created in 1985 by StataCorp. 


These softwares were provided for free to 

the nine provinces which formulated their 

reports under this project. 

G. CBMS Poverty Maps 

The poverty map for each indicator shows the 

provincial map disaggregated by municipality. 

A simple color scheme is used (green, 

light green, pink and red) to represent the 

four ranges of data for each indicator. Each 

indicator, however, used a different range 

relative to the provincial data. 

H. Limitations of the Data 

While observations are taken from the 

entire population, the user of the data 

presented in this report should bear in mind 

that the municipalities in two provinces 

(Eastern Samar and Biliran) were not able to 

collect their data over the same period. For 

instance, CBMS was piloted in a number of 

municipalities in Eastern Samar and Biliran 

in 2005 and was implemented provincewide 

in 2006. Moreover, due to some diffi culties, 

the CBMS census could not be carried out in 

1 barangay in Romblon, and 2 barangays 

each in Camarines Norte and Eastern Samar. 

Moreover, data from a number of barangays 

in Sarangani are still not available. 

Estimates on poverty and subsistence 

incidence may also be affected by under- 

and/or over-reporting of income or 

reluctance on the part of the respondents to 

reveal their true levels of income. As in other 

surveys, the CBMS enumerators may also 

have encountered interview non-response 

and item non-response. 



101

Available in this series: 

NATIONAL REPORT 

• Philippines Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals 2010 

PROVINCIAL REPORTS 

•Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data 

Province of Agusan del Norte 


Province of Agusan del Sur 


Province of Biliran 


Province of Camarines Norte 


Province of Eastern Samar 


Province of Marinduque 

• Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data 


• Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data 

Province of Sarangani 


Province of Siquijor

Province of Romblon - UNDP in the Philippines

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