52% of Pinoy families consider themselves poor — SWS

A third quarter survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on self-rated poverty and hunger found an increase in number despite the Aquino administation’s flagship anti-poverty program — the conditional cash transfer (CCT), or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

According to the Sept. 4-7 poll, 52 percent of the respondents, or an estimated 10.4 Filipino households, say they consider themselves poor and 41 percent, composed of 8.2 million families going hungry (food poor).

Self-rated poverty jumped by 15 points to 53 percent in Balance Luzon, from only 38 percent in June, the SWS survey added.

It also noted that the poverty rating rose by nine points to 62 percent in rural areas and stayed at 43

percent in towns and cities.

SWS’ newspaper partner, BusinessWorld, has first crack at survey publications.

Also, self-rated food poverty jumped to 45 percent in Balance Luzon, the highest since June 2006, from the 28 percent recorded in an earlier survey.

Poor families continued to lower their living standards, with self-rated poverty thresholds staying sluggish despite inflation, the SWS added.

“The September 2011 self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty thresholds have already been surpassed in the past for all areas,” it stressed.

In terms of hunger, the SWS said this was at 28 percent among the self-rated poor.

The figure is higher than the 16 percent rating recorded among those who considered themselves as “not poor” and the 13.4 percent among those who consider themselves as being on the borderline.

Among the self-rated food poor, hunger was at 31.1 percent, more than double the 14.8 percent rating recorded among the “not food poor” and the 14.7 percent among those on the borderline.

Severe hunger, defined as experiencing having nothing to eat “often” or “always” in the last three months, was at: 5.5 percent among poor households, 2.2 percent among the “not poor,” and 0.7 percent among those on the borderline.

The SWS said the poll used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The SWS survey questions about the family’s experience of hunger, self-rated poverty and self-rated food-poverty are directed to the household head. –Daily Tribune