The municipalities of Mansalay, Bongabong, Naujan, and Pinamalayan have the highest number of poor population in Oriental Mindoro, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Mimaropa said.

The DSWD conducted Listahanan Third Round Assessment or Listahanan 3 in Oriental Mindoro, where they found that 41,473 households or 21% of the total 195,599 population assessed in the province are among the poorest of the poor.

Of the total poor residents identified, 29% of households belonged to the Mangyan groups, mostly residing in Mansalay, Bulalacao, and Naujan, according to the April 21, 2023 report of DSWD.

Listahanan is the government’s mechanism for identifying who and where the poor are, with 21% of the poor households residing in urban barangays and 79% in rural barangays.

At the barangay level, Panaytayan in Mansalay and Lisap in Bongabong topped the list with the highest number of poor households.

Ernie H. Jarabejo, Listahanan regional field coordinator, said the instrument uses the Proxy Means Test (PMT), a statistical model that estimates household income through observable and verifiable indicators such as materials in housing structures and households’ access to basic services and facilities such as water, electricity, health, education, and assets, among others.

Jarabejo emphasized that the PMT estimated income is compared to the existing poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on which household incomes that fall below the provincial threshold are considered poor.

The database of DSWD shows that the average household size among the poor in Oriental Mindoro is four, with most of them owning cell phones (57%), television (36%), and motorcycles (21%).

However, reports further stated that 35% of the poor households have no access to electricity, and they are mostly found in the municipalities of Bulalacao and Mansalay.

Listahanan data also revealed that in every 100 poor households, 30 have no toilet facilities, and ways of depositing waste include open pit and pail systems.

The Listahanan 3 assessment, completed in 2021, covered Oriental Mindoro’s two congressional districts, 14 towns, and one city with a total of 147 field workers.