Gov’t, private sector urged: Help Pinoys get access to jobs, services

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar. ALBERT ALCAIN/Presidential Photo

Malacañang on Tuesday urged government agencies and the private sector to help Filipinos get improved access to social services and employment after a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed more Filipinos experienced hunger in the last quarter of 2016.

The survey, conducted from Dec. 3 to 6 last year, revealed that 3.1 million families or 13.9 percent of 1,500 respondents  experienced hunger at least once in the final quarter.

READ: More Filipinos went hungry in last quarter of 2016

This figure was 3.3 points higher than the 10.6 percent recorded in September 2016 and 2.2 points above the 11.7 percent recorded in December 2015.

“We attribute this to the rise in consumer prices which hit 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016—at the time the survey was conducted—from 2.0 percent in the third quarter, according to the data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP),” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in statement.

“Weather disturbances, plus seasonal demand due to the Christmas holidays, contributed to the uptick in food inflation which resulted in the aforementioned public sentiment,” he added.

While Andanar said that “surveys are snapshots of our people’s perception at a particular point in time,” he said surveys are “reminders that government needs to work doubly hard to implement socio-economic reforms that will have immediate and even long-term benefits for Filipinos.”

“We ask the cooperation of all government agencies and even the private sector to help our people get improved access to social services, as well as secure employment and livelihood opportunities. We must work together to strengthen the economy to benefit the Filipino people,” he said. RAM/rga