Ondoy, Pepeng push up hunger rate, says SWS

The number of Filipinos who experienced hunger increased by about 300,000 after tropical storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng hit the country, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported.

Results of the SWS conducted on October 24 to 27 reveal that hunger rose to 18.9 percent nationwide. The figure was only 17.5 percent in the previous survey of September 18 to 21, a few days before Ondoy (international name Ketsana) hit Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.

Pepeng (international name Parma), which battered Northern Luzon, struck a week after Ondoy.

“The new hunger figure represents an estimated 3.5 million families, or 300,000 more than the estimated 3.2 million hungry families as of September 18 [to] 21. The increase occurred mainly in Luzon outside Metro Manila,” SWS reported.

Hunger by region

Overall hunger rose by almost 6 points in the balance of Luzon, from 13.5 percent (about 1.1 million families) in September to 19.3 percent (about 1.6 million families) in October.

The balance of Luzon refers to all regions on the main island, except Metro Manila.

Hunger rose by almost a point in Visayas, from 19 percent (about 700,000 families) to 20.3 percent (about 750,000 families).

But the figure declined by almost 9 points in Metro Manila, from 24.7 percent (about 600,000 families) to 16 percent (about 390,000 families), and by almost 2 points in Mindanao, from 19.7 percent (about 800,000 families) to 18 percent (about 760,000 families).

Degrees of hunger

SWS also reported that the 1.3-point rise in overall hunger in just over a month resulted from a 0.5-point increase in moderate hunger, combined with a 0.8-point increase in severe hunger.

Moderate hunger refers to those who experienced it “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, while severe hunger refers to those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months.

Moderate hunger rose by 4 points in the balance of Luzon and by almost a point in the Visayas. It declined by almost 8 points in Metro Manila and by almost 2 points in Mindanao.

On the other hand, severe hunger rose by almost 2 points in the balance of Luzon and by almost a point in the Visayas. It declined by a point in Metro Manila, while the hunger rate neither increased nor decreased in Mindanao.

The SWS’s latest survey on hunger rate was conducted from October 24 to 27, 2009, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent for national percentages; and plus or minus 6 percent for area percentages.

SWS said its latest survey on hunger was not commissioned but was “done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service.” –ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO REPORTER, Manila Times