More Pinoy families now have 'always gone hungry’ - SWS

(Updated 6:04 p.m.) The number of Filipino families who "often" or "always" had nothing to eat during the past three months have risen, a survey undertaken in June by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said. Families who experienced severe hunger rose to 4.2 percent (780,000 families) in June from 2.8 percent (530,000 families) in March, the SWS said on its website on Wednesday. Meanwhile, about four million Filipino households, or one of five families, experienced hunger at least once during the past three months, the same survey said. As of March 2010, levels of overall hunger "hardly changed" for the past nine months, the SWS said in its June poll. Overall hunger was 21.2 percent in March 2010, and a record 24 percent in December 2009. The 1998-2010 average rose to 13.6 percent, the same survey showed. Hunger is an involuntary suffering, the SWS said in its survey where respondents were asked questions regarding the number of times they eat. At the same time, moderate hunger — defined as the experience of having nothing to eat "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months — fell by 1.5 percent. Moderate hunger declined to 16.9 percent, affecting 3.2 million families in June from 18.4 percent (3.4 million families) in March. As a result, the severely hungry became 20 percent of the overall hungry, up from 13 percent in the previous quarter, SWS said. Overall hunger rises in Metro Manila Overall hunger rose by almost 5 points in Metro Manila, from 17.3 percent (432,000 families) in March to 22 (at 550,000 families) in June. It rose by 2 points in Mindanao, from 24 percent (1 million families) to 26 percent (1.1 million families). The category declined by almost 3 points in Balance Luzon — Luzon minus Metro Manila — from 20.9 percent (1.7 million families) to 18.3 percent (1.5 million families). It was little changed in the Visayas from 21.2 percent (800,000 families) to 21 percent (790,000 families). Moderate hunger rose by almost 6 points in Metro Manila, from 13.3 percent in March to 19 percent in June. It fell by four points in Balance Luzon, or 18.1 percent to 14 percent, and by almost 2 points in the Visayas from 18.8 percent to 17.3 percent. It hardly changed in Mindanao, from 21.4 percent to 21 percent. "The new moderate hunger rates are higher than their 12-year averages for all areas," SWS said. Severe hunger rose by over 2 points from 2.6 percent to 5 percent in Mindanao, by over 1 point from 2.8 percent to 4.3 percent in Balance Luzon, and by over 1 point from 2.3 percent to 3.7 percent in the Visayas. It fell by 1 point from 4 percent to 3 percent in Metro Manila. "The new severe hunger rates are higher than their 12-year averages for all areas except in Metro Manila, where the latest score of 3.0 percent is slightly lower than its average of 3.5 percent," the pollster said. The June 2010 Social Weather Survey was undertaken from June 25 to 28, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent for area percentages. Palace's anti-poverty programs Meanwhile, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said President Benigno Aquino III will bare his specific programs aimed at alleviating poverty and hunger in his first State of the Nation Address on July 26. "There will be poverty alleviation programs that will be taken up," Lacierda said at a press briefing. He added that one of these is the national government’s conditional cash transfer program, which was started by the previous Arroyo administration and implemented by the social welfare department. - With Jam L. Sisante/LBG/RJAB Jr./VS/JV, GMANews.TV