We focus on poorer, vulnerable provinces — Palace on SWS poll

Communications Sec. Sonny Coloma. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Malacañang on Monday explained that poverty-alleviation programs are focused on specific provinces, one of the reasons why the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed a decrease in self-rated poverty in Visayas.

“Government is focused on reducing poverty through the convergence of programs on social protection, education, livelihood and employment and housing,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said. “Priority is placed on provinces with the highest poverty incidence and vulnerability to calamities.”

The SWS survey, first published in BusinessWorld, showed that self-rated poverty remained steady at 51 percent nationwide in June.

However, it also showed an increase in self-rated poverty in Mindanao (up by eight points to 70 percent), which was countered by a decrease of 12 points (to 58 percent) in Visayas. Self-rated poverty for Balance of Luzon dropped by a point (43 percent) while it increased by two points in Metro Manila (33 percent).

The survey, with sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6 points each for the four geographical areas, was conducted June 5 to 8 among 1,200 respondents.