More Filipino families view themselves as poor

HUNGER MAY HAVE HIT fewer Filipino families as 2012 drew to a close but more consider themselves mahirap, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in a new report.

A Dec. 8-11 survey found 54% of the respondents, equivalent to 10.9 million households, claiming to be poor. The result is up seven points from August’s 47% (estimated 9.5 million families) and also higher than the 52% average for 2012.

The December figure is still well below the record 74% hit in July 1985 during the final years of the Marcos dictatorship, but is substantially greater than the official poverty rate of 26.5% (equivalent to 23.14 million individuals) as of 2009.

Self-rated food poverty was said by the SWS to have also worsened by nine points to 44% (8.9 million families) from 35% (7.2 million) in the previous survey. The figure is also higher than the full-year average of 41%.

These contrast with the SWS’ reporting last week that hunger -- experiencing having nothing to eat -- had fallen to a one-and-a-half-year low of 16.3% (an estimated 3.3 million families) over the same period.

Malacañang, which had earlier touted the hunger findings, this time said it was not too concerned about the apparent inconsistency in results.

The SWS, meanwhile, said natural calamities could have heightened respondents’ perceptions of being poor. An economist, for his part, blamed a rising peso that had led to job losses.

The SWS said self-rated poverty increased nationwide except in the Visayas, rising the highest in Mindanao by 15 points to 72%. The rate was seven points up in Metro Manila to 42%, and by a slightly lower five points in Balance Luzon to 43%. A one-point drop to 62%, on the other hand, was recorded in the Visayas.

Self-rated food poverty rose in all areas, also worsening the most in Mindanao where 18 points were added to push the rate to 63%. It was up seven points to 54% in the Visayas, by five in Balance Luzon to 34% and by four to 28% in Metro Manila.

Poor families, the SWS said, were continuing to tighten their belts with the self-rated poverty threshold -- the monthly budget they say they need in order not to consider themselves poor in general -- “sluggish despite considerable inflation.”

It rose to P10,000 in Mindanao and Balance Luzon, and declined to P12,000 in Metro Manila and P8,000 in the Visayas.

The self-rated food poverty threshold, meanwhile, rose to P5,000 in Mindanao and Balance Luzon, and fell to P6,000 in Metro Manila and P4,000 in the Visayas.

In explaining the rise in poverty and the decline in hunger, the SWS said the number of those who claimed to have experienced having nothing to eat had dropped among both the poor and the not-poor.

“At any one point in time, hunger is always greater among the poor than among the non-poor. Over any two points in time, the hunger rates of both the poor and the non-poor often change markedly,” it said.

Among the self-rated poor, hunger dipped to 22.7% in December from 30.6%, the SWS said. Among the not-poor/on the borderline, the rate dipped to 9% from 11.6%.

Among the self-rated food poor, meanwhile, hunger fell to 25.8% from 34.8%. It dropped to 8.8% from 13.5% among the not food poor/food borderline.

Leo S. Laroza, SWS survey research communication specialist, told Business World that overall, “They (the respondents) may not have experienced hunger, but a number of natural calamities that hit the country may have caused them to feel poor.”

“The government’s hunger mitigation efforts could possibly have helped contain hunger,” Mr. Laroza added.

Victor A. Abola, an economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said the government should look at the strengthening peso.

Many families still feel poor despite the economy’s having grown by a stronger-than-expected 6.5% growth as of September, he said, as “almost 900,000 jobs were lost for the year ending October 2012, which in turn was a result of the continued peso appreciation.”

The government should “not let the peso appreciate further as a minimum. It actually should depreciate because it is heavily overvalued,” he added.

The peso closed at P41.05 last year, appreciating by 6.36% from 2011.

Unemployment, meanwhile, hit 6.8% as of October -- up from 6.4% a year earlier -- based on latest data.

The Dec. 8-11 SWS survey utilized face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. The sampling error margins were ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages.