25 April 2025– Guimaras. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Guimaras is actively implementing the 2024 POPCEN-CBMS Geotagging of Service Facilities and Government Projects (SFGP), with data collection and map processing operations rolling out throughout March 2025.

“This initiative is a key step toward building a more responsive and data-driven approach to local governance, community development, and poverty reduction in the province,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

The operations began on March 3, 2025, with the successful generation of QField projects that will guide all geotagging activities in the field.

“With map generation reaching 100 percent completion, PSA Guimaras immediately deployed four Map Data Collectors across the 98 barangays of Gumaras to geotag vital service facilities and government projects,” Losare said.

“As of March 31, 2025, the data collection progress has reached 65 percent,” Losare added.

Losare expounded that one Map Data Processor and one Map Data Reviewer were hired on March 14, 2025, to complement the said efforts. The processor is responsible for encoding collected data and converting them into shapefiles, with 40 percent progress as of March 31, 2025.

“The reviewer ensures accuracy through a thorough scrutiny and quality check of the shapefiles, with review activities at 30 percent completion,” Losare said.

Geotagging is a fundamental aspect of CBMS operations, capturing precise and timely data about households, public facilities, infrastructure projects, and even natural resources at the grassroots level.

“These spatial data are instrumental in producing thematic and poverty maps that support better targeted government interventions and policy-making,” Losare said.

As a supplementary activity, PSA Guimaras also conducted the Listing of Building Constructions (LoBC), including gathering data on the number, type, and value of constructions, the duration of building activities, and the status of required building permits.

“These figures are crucial in assessing informal construction trends and supporting more accurate national construction statistics,” Losare said.

The 2024 POPCEN-CBMS Form 8, designed to provide updated baseline data for future CBMS activities, seeks to update previously geotagged and listed features from the 2022 and 2023 CBMS operations and the 2024 SFGP Listing.

“It also targets facilities and projects that were not covered before, along with ongoing building constructions, ensuring no data gaps in local infrastructure profiling”, Losare expounded. Losare also highlighted that PSA Guimaras aims to produce comprehensive shapefiles of geotagged facilities and government projects.

“These outputs will be made available to both national and local agencies for use in future research, planning, program implementation, and disaster preparedness,” Losare said.

She further elucidated that the operation will provide estimates of the proportion of constructions without approved permits, excluding government horizontal projects.

“This data will feed into construction statistics used in the country’s national accounts,” Losare said.

Losare also stated that through these geotagging and mapping efforts, PSA Guimaras continues to drive smarter development planning by equipping decision-makers with timely, accurate, and location-based data that will uplift communities and improve the quality of life for every Guimarasnon.