11 M families still rate selves poor

MANILA, Philippines - A little over half of Filipino families or about 11.2 million still consider themselves “mahirap” or poor, according to the second quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The SWS survey, conducted from June 5 to 8, showed that self-rated poverty nationwide remained steady at 51 percent.

The poll also found 37 percent, or an estimated 8.1 million, of families describing themselves to be “food poor,” up slightly from 36 percent, or an estimated 7.9 million, in March.

The results of the latest SWS survey on self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.

SWS said self-rated poverty dropped by 12 points in the Visayas to 58 percent, and by a point in balance Luzon to 43 percent.

These decreases, however, were offset by increases in Mindanao and Metro Manila, the pollster said.

In Mindanao, self-rated poverty rose by eight points to 70 percent in June and by two points in Metro Manila to 33 percent.

Self-rated food poverty fell in the Visayas to 40 percent in June from 45 percent in March.

The rating “hardly changed” in Luzon areas outside Metro Manila, slightly up to 29 percent in June from a record-low 28 percent in March.

In Mindanao, self-rated food poverty rose to 58 percent in June from 52 percent in March. In Metro Manila, the rating increased by three points to 23 percent.

Meanwhile, SWS said the median self-rated poverty threshold – or the minimum monthly budget that the poorer half of households need for home expenses in order not to consider themselves “poor” – rose to P20,000 from P15,000.

Poverty thresholds increased in Metro Manila last month compared to March. In balance Luzon, it fell by P5,000 to P10,000, while the amount stayed at P10,000 in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The June 2015 median self-rated poverty thresholds in Metro Manila and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas,” the SWS noted.

The median self-rated food poverty threshold – the monthly budget for food that the poorer half of food-poor households need in order not to consider themselves “food-poor” – rose by P1,000 to a record-high P10,000 in Metro Manila.

The rating slipped by P1,000 to P5,000 in balance Luzon, edged up P250 to P5,000 in the Visayas and stayed at P5,000 in Mindanao.

“The June 2015 median self-rated food poverty thresholds in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas,” the SWS said.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide and has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages, and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.