MANILA – About 9.4 million Filipino families, representing 52 percent of the total number of households nationwide, still consider themselves as poor, based on the findings of the latest survey by a prestigious polling group.
In the same survey, the Social Weather Station (SWS) also reported that four in 10 Filipinos said they are “food poor†and that living standards had gone down among the poorest of the poor.
The SWS said the number of families that rated themselves as poor is highest in violence-wracked Mindanao and in Metro Manila, known officially as the National Capital Region and the seat of the national government.
“The self-rated poverty rate has ranged from 50 to 52 percent for the most part of 2008, spiking up only once to 59 percent (estimated at 10.6 million) in the second quarter,†it added.
As such, it pointed out that the latest survey brings the 2008 average to 53 percent, which is similar to the 54 percent average 2006 and slightly above the 50 percent average in 2007.
The non-commissioned survey, conducted from November 28 to December 1 in 2008, used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the SWS said.
According to the SWS, the survey also found that 42 percent of Filipino families, or about 7.7 million, consider themselves “food-poor,†30 percent put themselves on the “food borderline†and 28 percent said they are “not food-poor.â€
After declining by two points from 53 percent in June 2008 to 51 percent in September, self-rated poverty in the rest of Luzon (meaning outside Metro Manila) again declined by seven points to 44 percent.
This was just two points above the its record-low of 42 percent in March 2005, the SWS reported. Self-rated poverty is at 60 percent in the Visayas, similar to the 59 percent in the previous quarter after declining from 66 percent in June 2008, it said.
At the same time, the SWS said the survey showed it rose by five points in Metro Manila, from 48 percent in September to 53 percent in December and by seven points in war-torn Mindanao, from 52 percent to 59 percent.
In urban areas, self-rated food poverty also declined anew in the rest of Luzon, the SWS said. Its latest figure of 35 percent is three points down from 38 percent in September, which was six points down from 44 percent in June 2008.
But the one-quarter increase in self-rated food poverty is sharpest in Mindanao, the SWS said as it pointed out that it rose by a high 20 points, from a record low of 31 percent in September to 51 percent in December.
Despite considerable inflation, the SWS said the self-rated poverty threshold, meaning the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves as poor in general, has been sluggish for several years.
“This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, that is, belt-tightening,†the SWS explained.
For poor households, the median poverty threshold in Metro Manila stayed at the equivalent of more than $200 a month although it had already reached as much as $300 several times in the past, SWS said.
It added that for those in Mindanao, the median poverty threshold stayed at about $125 although it had already been pegged at $200 before.
(Photo courtesy of lestercavestany.com)
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