Palace on fewer poor: ‘Best is yet to come’

Malacañang on Thursday promised that “the best is yet to come” for the Philippines, as it moves toward being an upper-middle income nation this year.

Amid a survey showing a decrease in hunger, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo assured the public that the government was working twice as hard to lift Filipinos out of poverty and hunger.

“We are enthusiastic to witness our nation finally enter the upper-middle income country status this year, as per the Department of Finance,” Panelo said in a statement.

He added: “The best is yet to come, as the Chief Executive continues to work double time in the remainder of his term to uplift more Filipino families out of poverty and hunger, toward a more comfortable and prosperous life for all.”

Panelo made the remarks following a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed that hunger went down to 10.5 percent in December 2018 from the previous quarter’s 13.3 percent.

Last year’s average hunger rate was at 10.8 percent, which Malacañang said was the lowest figure recorded in 15 years.

“The Palace considers the improvement experienced by the survey participants [about] their economic status as among the paramount reasons why the President continues to win the trust and approval of the Filipino people,” he said.

“We stress that our economy under the first two years of the Duterte presidency, which averages 6.6 percent, is now the highest level of growth,” Panelo said.

The SWS survey, taken from Dec. 16 to 19, asked the respondents in Filipino: “In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat?”  —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH