Self-rated poverty drops in June

The number of Filipinos who consider themselves poor fell for the first time in three quarters, the latest Social Weather Stations Survey (SWS) revealed.

The survey, conducted from June 23 to 26 and  published in Business World Friday, showed that 44 percent of the respondents or an estimated 10.1 million families consider themselves poor. This was six points lower than the 50 percent or an estimated 11.5 million families recorded in March 2017.

The survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents and had a margin of error of ±3 points for national percentages.

The survey showed that self-rated poverty in Luzon dropped 16 points and now at 34 percent. Self-rated poverty in Visayas  at rose 7 points and now at 64 percent while Mindanao recorded a four points increase and now at 57 percent.

In June 2016, self-rated poverty was at 45 percent then it fell to 42 percent in September but again rose to 44 percent in December last year.

BACKSTORY: Self-rated poverty hits record low in 2016—SWS

The survey also revealed that respondents said they needed at least a monthly budget of P10,000 so as not to be considered poor. But the respondents said they needed P5,000 more to meet the said monthly threshold.

It added that for self-rated poverty, the threshold was P6,000 a month but respondents revealed that they were short of the threshold by P2,500.

The survey also revealed that 32 percent of the respondents considered the type of food they eat as “mahirap” or “food-poor.”

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Malacañang welcomed the results of the latest SWS survey.

“We welcome the recent Social Weather Stations survey showing a six-percent drop of Filipinos who considered or rated themselves as mahirap or poor, from 50 percent in March 2017 to 44 percent in June 2017, and a three-percent decline of Filipino families rating their food as mahirap, or poor, from 35 percent to 32 percent in June 2017,” Abella said in an ambush interview in Malacañang on Friday.

“These are significant. These are very, very significant… drops. And we’d like to believe that President Duterte’s administration has been able to deliver goods that had been neglected or slow in the past. And so we attribute that to decisiveness, and that would be some of the features of his Sona,” he added. IDL / rga / JPV