In 2021, about 63.6 percent or six (6) of the 11 municipal and city LGUs in South Cotabato (excluding General Santos City) were categorized under Level 5 or those having poverty incidences among population below or equal to 20 percent. These six (6) LGUs were Koronadal City (11.8%), Polomolok (14.5%), Sto. Niño (17.7%), Tampakan (18.2%), Surallah (18.6%), and Norala (18.8%). Poverty incidence refers to the proportion of individuals with income less than the poverty threshold. Those in Level 5 had the least poverty incidence in the province. 
 

Tboli, with a poverty incidence among population in 2018 of 45.7 percent, improved from Level 3 in 2018 to Level 4 in 2021. Norala, with a poverty incidence among population in 2018 of 24.6 percent, was the new entrant in 2021 in Level 5 translating to 6 LGUs in Level 5 on the said year. Banga (from 19.5% to 20.0%) slid from Level 5 in 2018 to Level 4 in 2021. Only Lake Sebu remained in Level 3 since 2018 although the municipality showed improvements in its incidence. No municipality or city had  poverty incidence greater than 60.0 percent.

Tampakan (from 30.9% to 18.2%) had the biggest improvement in terms of poverty incidence   followed by Tboli (from 45.7% to 36.1%), and Lake Sebu (from 49.3% to 42.1%).

The small area poverty estimates for South Cotabato’s 10 municipalities and Koronadal City had coefficients of variation (CVs) less than 20.0 percent in 2021. Further,  nine (9) LGUs had lower CVs compared to 2018 indicating improvements in the reliability of estimates in 2021.

Technical Notes

Poverty estimation for cities and municipalities in the Philippines uses the Census Empirical Best/Bayes (Census EB) estimation technique  developed by the World Bank in Small Area Estimation (SAE) of Poverty by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

In order to produce reliable poverty estimates at the city and municipality levels for 2021, the SAE methodology uses the results of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, the merged data sets of the 2021 Family Income and Expenditure Survey and the January 2022 round of the Labor Force Survey, and the 2021 Updating of the List of Establishments. Other data explored was the 2021 Nighttime Lights Data taken from the Earth Observation Group of the Colorado School of Mines.

The 2021 SAE of Poverty produces estimates for the 14 sub-municipalities in the City of Manila, 114 cities, and 1,484 municipalities with corresponding standard errors, coefficients of variation, and confidence intervals.

Approved for Release:

MA. EILEEN A. BERDEPRADO
Chief Statistical Specialist 
Officer-In-Charge, Philippine Statistics Authority - South Cotabato

For inquiries, please contact:

RODOLFO M. MENDOZA
Supervising Statistical Specialist
Philippine Statistics Authority - South Cotabato 
Telephone Number (083) 877-1905