INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The number of Filipinos in Metro Manila who consider themselves poor has remained stable, the latest survey taken by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed.
There are an estimated 11.2 million families or 51 percent of Filipino families who consider themselves poor, said the survey, which was unchanged the previous quarter. It was at 52 percent in the fourth quarter last year.
READ: 11.4M families remain poor–SWS poll
The 2015 second quarter survey of the SWS was conducted last June 5 to 8 among 1,200 adults nationwide, with sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The poll results, which were first published in Business World, said the surveys for first and second quarter this year were the lowest since the 50 percent in 2013 and better than the 54 percent average for the four quarters of 2014.
The results of the survey were released as President Benigno Aquino III is scheduled to deliver his last State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday afternoon.
READ: We focus on poorer, vulnerable provinces — Palace on SWS poll
Self-rated poverty in the Visayas fell 12 points to 58 percent in June, below the average of 67 percent in 2014. This was also the lowest since the 57 percent recorded in June 2013.
In Balance Luzon self-rated poverty decreased by a point to 43 percent. This is five points below the average of 48 percent in 2014, and the lowest since the recorded 42 percent in 2013.
In Mindanao, self-rated poverty increased by eight points to 70 percent in June. This is also eight points higher the 2014 average of 62 percent.
In Metro Manila, it increased to 33 percent, which is seven pints below the 2014 average of 40 percent.
Food poverty
The poll results also revealed that 37 percent or 8.1 million families considered themselves as “food poor.” This means they considered the type of food they eat as poor— a point up from the 36 percent recorded in the 2015 first quarter survey.
This was also four points below the 41 percent four-quarter average of 2014.
There was a significant drop of self-rated food poverty in the Visayas while there were increases in Mindanao and Metro Manila.
In the Visayas, the self-rated food poverty dropped by five points to 40 percent from 45 percent in March.
In 2014, the average was at 51 percent and it was the lowest since the 39 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2011.
In Mindanao, self-rated food poverty increased six points to 58 percent from the previous 52 percent in the first quarter.
This was eight points above the average of 52 percent in 2014, and the highest since the 63 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.
In Metro Manila, it rose to three points to 23 percent, which was also four points below the average of 27 percent in 2014.
There were also increases in poverty thresholds in Metro Manila last month compared to the first quarter survey.
The median self-rated poverty threshold — the monthly budget the poorer half of poor households need for home expenses in order not to consider themselves poor in general — rose to P20,000 from P15,000, SWS said.
In Balance Luzon threshold fell by P5,000 to P10,000, while those of the Visayas and Mindanao stayed at P10,000.
“The June 2015 median self-rated poverty thresholds in Metro Manila and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas,” SWS noted.
Median self-rated food poverty threshold — the monthly budget that the poorer half of food-poor households need for food in order not to consider themselves “food-poor” — rose by P1,000 to a record-high P10,000 in Metro Manila,
A decrease of the same amount to P5,000 in “Balance Luzon,” edged up P250 to P5,000 in the Visayas and stayed at P5,000 in Mindanao.
“The June 2015 median self-rated food poverty thresholds in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas,” SWS noted. IDL