Palace finds SWS hunger survey 'encouraging'

Malacañang on Friday found the result of the recent Social Weather Stations survey on hunger as encouraging, even as it still expected the opposition to use the figures to criticize the present administration. "We view these numbers as encouraging, reflecting, as they do, the perceptions and opinions of our countrymen at a particular period in time," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press statement. He said the "negative-minded will always try to take temporary advantage of individual snapshots of public opinion – as (former President and incumbent Pampanga) Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, (Reps.) Edcel Lagman, and Mitos Magsaysay have irresponsibly done." In the SWS survey conducted from June 3 to 6, showed that hunger has gone down "slightly" in the last three months, with some three million households having had nothing to eat at least once in the last three months compared to 4.1 million families in March. Lacierda said hunger is an indicator of poverty and self-rated hunger is just one way to measure the incidence of poverty in the society. "The only way to have an enduring, meaningful effect on public perception is to have a tangible and lasting impact on actual poverty. What is needed is to sustain efforts to bring these numbers further down," he said. He said the CCT (conditional cash transfer) in particular has components that should help address poverty in the society. He added by July 4, the two millionth beneficiary of the CCT will be enrolled, "radically expanding the real numbers of Filipinos in whom our government is investing to enable health and education to provide a basis for a better future." "What matters is to significantly reduce poverty by providing our people with a chance to multiply their options and take charge of their future," Lacierda said. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News