Palace Notes SWS Survey on Poverty, Cites PSA Study

Manila — Malacañang on Monday acknowledged the findings of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty, saying the government is focused on addressing poverty alleviation.

However, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. noted that a similar government survey showed a decline in poverty incidence.

In a statement sent to members of the Malacañang Press Corps, Secretary Coloma said, “While we take cognizance of the slight rise in the self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty, the government policies and programs are pursued based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) of the Philippine Statistics Authority, which shows that poverty incidence has eased to 24.9 percent for the first semester of 2013, compared to the 27.9 percent in the same period in 2012.”

He said the same FIES showed a decline in the proportion of extremely poor Filipino individuals who could not afford to meet basic food requirements from 13.4 percent in 2012 to 10.7 percent in 2013.

“Nonetheless, the government shall continue to focus on intensifying programs for poverty reduction and social protection, including increasing the budget and coverage of the Conditional Cash Transfer program,” he said.

The government, he said, has earmarked the biggest portion of the proposed P2.606-trillion 2015 national budget for social services at P967.9 billion or 37.2 percent.

“The proposed budget also focuses on delivering high-impact projects in 44 provinces with high poverty magnitude where more job opportunities will be created: provinces with high poverty incidence that require adequate social safety nets and those which are vulnerable to natural calamities,” said Coloma.

The SWS survey on self-rated poverty, conducted from September 26 to 29, showed 55 percent of the 1,200 respondents nationwide considered themselves poor.

The survey said the figure, which is equivalent to an estimated 12.1 million families, is unchanged from June and three points above the 52 percent average for the four quarters of 2013. (PCOO-PND)

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