Palace views SWS self-rated poverty poll in positive light

An official of Malacañang viewed the recent poll of Social Weather Stations (SWS) on self-rated poverty in a positive light, focusing on the slight dip in number of families who rated themselves as “food poor.”

While the results of the SWS survey showed there had been no change in the number of poor Filipinos who considered themselves poor from December last year, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace noted that the number of Filipinos who viewed themselves as food poor fell to 36 percent.

The March 2015 survey on self-rated poverty and food poverty showed that 51 percent or 11.4 million Filipino families had rated themselves as poor.

● 11.4M families remain poor–SWS poll

Valte said the government under President Benigno Aquino III would continue its reform programs to curb the number of families who rated themselves poor.

“We’re one in wanting to see those numbers go down. Our programs are aimed to reach more families with our interventions. We do note that according to the SWS, the number of families who rated themselves as food poor fell to 36 percent,” the Palace spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

The survey results showed that self-rated poverty decreased by 12 points in Metro Manila (31 percent from 43 percent) and a point in the rest of Luzon (44 percent from 45 percent). However, self-rated poverty increased by five points in the Visayas (70 percent from 65 percent) and two points in Mindanao (62 percent from 60 percent).

On the other hand, self-rated food poverty went down slightly from 41 percent in December to 36 percent in March.

Across areas, self-rated food poverty dipped slightly in Luzon (28 percent from 37 percent), Metro Manila (20 percent from 24 percent) and Visayas (45 percent from 51 percent) while it remained unchanged in Mindanao (52 percent).

The survey was conducted from March 20 to 23 with 1,200 respondents and sampling error margins of 3 percent for national percentages and 6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

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