Helen Flores
Philippine Star

Some 10.6 million Filipino families now rate themselves as poor, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), which showed self-rated poverty on the rise since December 2007.

In a statement, SWS said the latest figure wiped out the decline in self-rated poverty “to its 20-year low in 2007” as announced by President Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address last July 28.

The non-commissioned survey, taken from June 27 to 30, found that 59 percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor, 24 percent put themselves on the borderline and 17 percent say they are not poor.

The Second Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adult respondents divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

SWS said the new self-rated poverty rate is nine points higher than the 50 percent which SWS estimates at nine million families in the first quarter of 2008, and 13 points above the 46 percent (estimated 8.1 million) in December 2007.

SWS said the Visayas region suffered the “steepest” rise in self-rated poverty in the past three months.

“It rose by 19 points from 47 percent last March to 66 percent in June, returning to the level of September 2006,” SWS said.

The June 2008 survey also found that 49 percent of Filipino families or 8.8 million consider themselves “food-poor,” 26 percent put themselves on the “food-borderline,” and 25 percent consider themselves “not food-poor.”

SWS said the latest Self-Rated Food Poverty is nine points higher than the 40 percent (estimated 7.1 million) in March 2008, or 15 points above the all-time low of 34 percent (estimated 6.1 million) in December 2007.

Self-rated poverty rose by nine points in Mindanao from 59 percent to 68 percent; by seven points in Metro Manila from 44 percent to 51 percent; and by five points in balance Luzon from 48 percent to 53 percent.

It rose by 12 points in urban areas, from 43 percent to 55 percent, or much more sharply than the six-point increase in rural areas, from 58 percent to 64 percent, SWS said.

Self-rated food poverty also rose “most sharply” in the Visayas, from 32 percent in March to 53 percent in June, or by 21 points.

It rose by eight points in Metro Manila from 35 percent to 43 percent; by seven points in Mindanao from 50 percent to 57 percent; and five points in balance Luzon from 39 percent to 44 percent.

Meanwhile, the SWS said self-rated poverty threshold – or the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general – has been sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation.

For poor households in particular, the median poverty threshold in Metro Manila is only P10,000 in the June 2008 survey, even though it had already reached as much as P15,000 several times in the past.

For those in balance Luzon, the median poverty threshold in June is P6,000, though it had already been at P10,000 before, SWS said.

The median poverty threshold of poor households is only P7,500 in the Visayas and P7,000 in Mindanao, but had also already reached P10,000 before in both areas, it said.

The median food-poverty thresholds for poor households in June 2008 are P5,000 in Metro Manila, P4,000 in balance Luzon, P4,300 in the Visayas, and P3,500 in Mindanao. These levels had already been reached several years ago, the SWS said.

In Metro Manila in particular, the median poverty threshold is still P10,000 as in 2000, even though the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen by 57 percent since, the SWS said.

The NCR median poverty threshold of P10,000 per month for June 2008 is equivalent to only P6,369 in base year 2000 purchasing power, after deflation by the CPI, SWS said.

“The deflated poverty threshold for NCR of below P7,000 per month is a throwback to living standards of 20 years ago,” it said.

The SWS survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percent for national percentages and plus or minus six percent for area percentages. The survey questions are directed to the household head.

The SWS survey results came a day after a poll by Pulse Asia, another independent survey firm, which showed 75 percent of Filipinos claiming they are “worse off” this year compared to 2007 as a result of soaring food and oil prices.

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday said the Pulse Asia survey aptly describes the condition of the country and the sentiments of the people.

“We cannot disagree with this findings. The economic conditions are more difficult nowadays compared to the previous years,” said Kalookan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, who is also CBCP’s public affairs committee chairman.

Iniguez advised Malacañang to address the problem rather than doubt the veracity of the survey results which, he said, were conducted scientifically.

–  With Evelyn Macairan