AROUND 12.2 million families, up from 10.9 million in April, said their families are poor, according to a survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) during the last week in office of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The June 26 to 29 survey involving 1,500 adult respondents nationwide with a margin of error of ±2.5 percent showed that 48 percent (or an estimated 12.2 million families) said their families are poor, up from 43 percent in April, while 31 percent said they are borderline poor (down from 34 percent) and 21 percent said they are not poor (down from 23 percent).
SWS said the 5-point rise in the number of self-rated poor was due to the one to 16 point-increases in the Visayas (64 percent from 48 percent), Mindanao (62 percent from 60 percent), Metro Manila (41 percent from 32 percent), and rest of Luzon (36 percent from 35 percent).
The polling firm also found that 34 percent (up from 31 percent) of Filipino families rated themselves as “food-poor,” while 40 percent (down from 45 percent) said they are “borderline food-poor,” and 26 percent (up from 24 percent) said they are “not food-poor.”
Self-rated food poor was highest in the Visayas with 64 percent (up from 48 percent), followed by Mindanao with 62 percent (down from 60 percent), Metro Manila with 41 percent (up from 32 percent) and Luzon with 36 percent (up from 35 percent).
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the latest SWS results makes the government more determined to realize the goal of President Marcos Jr. to bring down the country’s poverty level to a single digit by 2028.
Angeles said the administration is determined to pursue programs that would strengthen the agriculture sector and the country’s economy, which would help bring down the poverty level in the country.
