Palace taking SWS poll on poverty "seriously"
Malacanang on Sunday said they are taking the Social Weather Stations survey on poverty "seriously".
“We take seriously the Social Weather Stations (SWS) June 2018 survey which shows an increase in the incidence of families who consider themselves as poor, as well as families rating themselves as food-poor,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
The SWS survey was done from June 27-30, three weeks after the Philippine Statistics Authority said May inflation rose to 4.6 percent.
"As government reported earlier this month when June inflation numbers ( of 5.2 percent) were announced, families felt the pinch of higher food prices, particularly the accelerated increase in the price of rice due primarily to weather-related delays in distribution of cheap imports," Roque said.
“Rice inflation consistently picked up from 1 percent in January to 4.7 percent in June this year,” he said.
“We note that according to the same survey, self-rated poverty dropped in “balance Luzon” (outside NCR), where Region III, the country’s rice basket and other rice-growing areas are located, and where rice prices are lower,” he added.
Released on Saturday, SWS said 48 percent of families considering themselves as poor. This is 6 percentage points above the 42 percent in March 2018, and is the highest since the 50 percent in March 2017.
“The 6-point nationwide increase in Self-Rated Poverty (SRP) in the second quarter of 2018 was due to sharp increases in Mindanao, Metro Manila, and the Visayas offset by a slight decrease in Balance Luzon,” it said.
SRP rose by 18 percentage points in Mindanao, from 42 percent in March 2018 to 60 percent in June 2018 which is the highest since the 70 percent in September 2015.
It rose by 13 points in the Visayas, from 54 percent in March to 67 percent in June and also rose by 13 points in Metro Manila, from 30 percent in March to 43 percent in June. However, SRP decreased by 5 points in Balance Luzon, from 40 percent in March to 35 percent in June which is the lowest since 34 percent in September 2016.
Roque assured the public that they are putting in place long-term solutions to significantly reduce inflation and help poor Filipino families.
“Such as pushing for rice tariffication as rice accounts for around 20 percent of the total consumption of the poor and implementing our Build, Build, Build Program to lower the transport cost of food and goods,” he said.
During the timeline of the survey, Roque said the government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), had distributed Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCTs) to around 3.8 million of the 10 million total beneficiaries with distribution ramping up quickly subsequently, while the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr’s) Pantawid Pasada Program for jeepney operators with valid franchises started this July. Ella Dionisio/DMS
