MANILA, Philippines – The number of Filipino families who consider themselves poor grew by two million in the last three months, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed.
The poll, conducted from March 10 to 13, found 55 percent of the respondents (about 11.1 million families) claiming to be “mahirap” or poor, 10 points higher than the 45 percent or 9.1 million households registered in December last year.
The SWS said the number of families claiming to be “food-poor” also increased by nine points from 36 percent or an estimated 7.2 million in December to 45 percent or an estimated 9.1 million families in March.
The survey research institution noted the new poverty figures are the highest to date for the Aquino administration.
However, it said they are still below the record highs of 74 percent for self-rated poverty recorded in July 1985 during the Marcos regime and the 59 percent for self-rated food poverty in April 1994 during the Ramos administration and repeated in September 2002 during the Arroyo administration.
SWS said poverty rates were basically the same in Metro Manila (46 percent from 47 percent) and balance Luzon (unchanged at 45 percent).
But it rose by nine points to 61 percent in the Visayas and by a huge 34 points in Mindanao to 72 percent, the highest in eight years or since November 2003’s 77 percent.
SWS said self-rated poverty also barely changed in urban areas at 40 percent from 41 percent. However, in rural areas the proportion of those declaring themselves poor went up by 17 points to 66 percent.
SWS noted that the same pattern was repeated in terms of self-rated poverty. It hardly changed in Metro Manila (30 percent from 31 percent) and balance Luzon (38 percent from 37 percent). It was up slightly in the Visayas (47 percent from 43 percent). The highest increase was reported in Mindanao (64 percent from 30 percent previously).
The self-rated poverty threshold – the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general – remained sluggish despite inflation, which the SWS said was an indication of belt tightening.
The median poverty threshold for poor households rose to P10,000 in balance Luzon, P12,000 in Metro Manila, P8,000 in the Visayas and P7,000 in Mindanao, while the median food-poverty threshold for poor households rose to P6,500 in Metro Manila, P5,000 in balance Luzon, P4,500 in the Visayas and P4,000 in Mindanao.
The latest thresholds have already been surpassed in the past for all areas, the SWS said.
The SWS survey results, released by the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.
It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages.
Asked for comment, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the impact of tropical storm “Sendong” in Mindanao last year and the continuous rain and flooding in the region had great impact on the people’s lives.
“If you noted, the last survey indicated 45 percent said that they were poor. The impact of Sendong had not been felt as much as the government – local and national – is trying to normalize,” Soliman said in a text message to The STAR.
She said the government has just turned over new housing units to 700 families, out of 8,000 families affected by the weather disturbance.
“So I understand where the people (from Mindanao) are coming from,” she said. –Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)
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