Malacañang expressed concern over the increase in the number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger in the last quarter of 2017, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
He said on Tuesday that the Duterte administration was dealing with the matter.
An estimated 3.6 million Filipino families said they experienced hunger last December, about 900,000 families more than the previous quarter as hunger rose in all geographical areas, according to Social Weather Stations (SWS). An average Filipino family has five members.
According to an SWS survey, conducted last Dec. 8-16, 15.9 percent of the respondents said they experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, 4.1 points higher than the 11.8 percent, or 2.7 million families, last September.
The incidence of involuntary hunger in the fourth quarter was the highest since the 17.2 percent recorded in December 2014.
Roque said the administration was working hard to reduce the vulnerabilities of families.
“We’re expanding economic opportunities in agriculture, forestry, fishery sector to address the challenges of food security, while improving our people’s income earning ability, enhancing workers’ employability through Tesda’s skills upgrade program,” he said in a press briefing.
The administration has also been providing educational, livelihood and health assistance to the poor and marginalized sectors, and a social pension for senior citizens and the indigent. There is also a supplementary feeding program for poor students, he said.
SWS said hunger was 14.7 percent (457,000 families) in Metro Manila last December from 11.7 percent (364,000 families); 17.7 percent (1.8 million families) from 13.8 (1.4 million) percent in the rest of Luzon; 13.3 percent (589,000 families) from 9.7 percent (427,000 families) in the Visayas; and 15.3 percent (802,000 families) from 9.7 percent (506,000 families) in Mindanao.