11.4m Filipino families remain poor, poll shows
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About 11.4 million families remained poor in the first quarter of the year, while some 7.9 million Filipinos rated themselves food-poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The survey, conducted from March 20 to 23 and first published in the BusinessWorld newspaper, showed 51 per cent who rated themselves poor, unchanged from 52 per cent, or 11.4 million families, who rated themselves poor in the previous quarter.
In the previous 18 surveys conducted during the Aquino administration, self-rated poverty registered beyond 50 per cent 11 times. The record-high 55 per cent was posted in March 2012, December 2013, June and September 2014, while the record-low 45 per cent was registered in December 2011.
Benjamin Diokno, an economics professor at the University of the Philippines, said there has been no improvement in self-rated poverty, as one of two households have considered themselves poor since 2010.
The SWS also found that 36 per cent of respondents said they considered themselves poor in terms of food, five points lower than the 41 per cent, or an estimated 9.1 million families, in December.
Lower inflation
Diokno said the slight improvement in the food poverty situation may be attributed to lower inflation because of the sharp drop in world oil prices.
“Government authorities have nothing to do with cheaper oil and therefore cannot claim credit for it,” he said.
The SWS asked heads of households to pick a showcard that describes their family: Not poor, on the line or poor. Similar showcards were used with questions asking about the type of food they eat.
Across areas, self-rated poverty decreased by 12 points in Metro Manila (31 per cent from 43 per cent) and a point in the rest of Luzon (44 per cent from 45 per cent), but went up slightly in the Visayas (70 per cent from 65 per cent) and Mindanao (62 per cent from 60 per cent).
Self-rated food poverty slightly declined in the rest of Luzon (28 per cent from 37 per cent), Metro Manila (20 per cent from 24 per cent) and Visayas (45 per cent from 51 per cent) while it remained unchanged in Mindanao (52 per cent).
The median self-rated poverty threshold in the rest of Luzon increased from 8,000 pesos in December to 15,000 pesos in March, while it remained unchanged in Mindanao (10,000 pesos).
In Metro Manila, the threshold declined from 20,000 pesos to 15,000 pesos. It also went down in the Visayas, from 12,000 pesos to 10,000 pesos.
Meanwhile, the median self-rated food poverty threshold went up in the rest of Luzon (6,000 pesos from 4,000 pesos) and Mindanao (5,000 pesos from 4,000 pesos), slightly decreased in the Visayas (4,750 pesos from 5,000 pesos) and remained unchanged in Metro Manila (9,000 pesos).
The self-rated poverty threshold is defined as the monthly budget that households need in order not to consider themselves poor, while self-rated food poverty is the monthly food budget needed to consider themselves “not poor.”
The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
