ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Zamboanga Peninsula has revealed the results of the 3rd round of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction program, known as "Listahanan 3," an information data system for identifying "who and where the poor households are."
DSWD regional field office 9 Director Riduan P. Hadjimuddin yesterday revealed on Friday the results of their listing during a forum of its stakes holders and partner government agencies with the theme "bawat bahay magkakasama sa kaunlaran."
Hadjimuddin explained that Listahanan 3, is an information system for identifying "who and where the poor households are," and is being spearheaded by DSWD.
He further explained that the program also guarantees the establishment and management of a national socio-economic database of poor households using globally accepted research methods or methodology
The project was conducted by the DSWD enumerators in three provinces, five cities, 67 municipalities and 1,904 barangay across the region.
According to Hadjimuddin, DSWD-9 assessed 706,844 households and about 53.06 percent, or about 375,070 households were identified as "poor" during the 3rd round of the assessment.
This translates to 1,855,400 individuals in the region living in poverty or about three out of five individuals are poor, Hadjimuddin said.
Hadjimuddin revealed that Zamboanga del Norte has the highest poverty magnitude with 70.38 percent or about 157,164 households considered poor. The province also has the highest chunk of identified poor.
Zamboanga Sibugay province ranks 2nd in terms of the highest poverty magnitude. Out of the 127,375 households, 63,961, or about 50.21 percent were identified as poor, he continued.
Zamboanga del Sur listed a poverty magnitude of 49.48 percent with 97,556 identified households as poor.
Isabela City has the lowest number of identified poor households in the region with only 14,771. However, in terms of poverty magnitude, Isabela City is the highest among the five cities with 71.71 percent of households identified as poor.
Zamboanga City, a first-class and highly urbanized city and recognized as the commercial and industrial center in region 9 has registered a 30.07 percent poverty magnitude or about 41,618 poor households out of the 138,412 assessed by DSWD 9.
Hadjimuddin said that the survey also showed that in terms of poor household distribution, more than half or 78 percent are found in rural areas, which is equivalent to 294,005 households while the remaining 22 percent, or about 81,065 reside in urban areas.