More Pinoys rate selves as ‘poor’

BY ALEXIS DOUGLAS B. ROMERO, BusinessWorld Reporter MORE FILIPINO FAMILIES, about nine million of them, consider themselves "mahirap" or poor, the results of a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed. The self-rated poverty incidence of 52% for September was up from June’s 47% but still far from all-time highs, the independent survey research institute said. Self-rated poverty fell in the Visayas but the numbers increased in the rest of the nation, and the SWS noted further belt-tightening among poor families. A Palace spokesman said a lack of awareness regarding state anti-poverty and hunger mitigation programs may have contributed but an economist said this results may have been due to lapses in the way the programs were carried out. The survey results, made exclusive to BusinessWorld, also found that 43%, or about 7.5 million Filipino families, considered themselves poor in terms of food. This self-rated food poverty was up from the 37-39% in the first two quarters of 2007. Again, a drop was noted in the Visayas but the numbers increased elsewhere. The SWS Self-Rated Poverty surveys, conducted since 1985, asks household heads to point to where their families are on a card marked "mahirap (poor)" on one side and "di mahirap (not poor)" on the other, with a line in between. The third quarter survey was conducted over September 2-5, 2007 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The sampling error margins were Ò3% for national percentages and Ò6% for area percentages. In the Visayas, self-rated poverty fell to 47%, the second-lowest level since the series started. It, however, rose 19 percentage points in Mindanao, to 68% in September from 49% last June. It rose slightly in the Balance of Luzon (50%) and Metro Manila (41%). In urban areas, self-rated poverty fell to a relatively low 44%. It was up by nine percentage points in rural areas, however, to 63% in September from 54% in the previous survey. In terms of self-rated food poverty, the SWS said that aside from the 43% which considered themselves as "food-poor," 25% put themselves on the "food-borderline" and 32% considered themselves "not food-poor." Self-rated food poverty dropped to 33% in the Visayas but rose sharply to 59% in Mindanao. It rose slightly in Metro Manila (33%) and in Balance Luzon (41%). Thresholds still sluggish The SWS said both the self-rated poverty threshold — the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general — and the self-rated food poverty threshold — the monthly food budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in terms of food — have been sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation. "This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., tightening their belts," the SWS said. For poor households in particular, the median poverty threshold in Metro Manila was P10,000 in the September 2007 survey, despite having reached as much as P15,000 several times in the past. In the Balance of Luzon, the threshold was P6,000; and in the Visayas and Mindanao, P5,000, the results showed. The median food-poverty thresholds for poor households, meanwhile, was P4,500 in Metro Manila, and P3,000 in the other three study areas. The SWS noted that in Metro Manila, both the food and total thresholds had considerably weakened against the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which rose by over 40% from the base year of 2000. It said a declining poverty threshold, despite a rising cost of living, means Filipino households were lowering their living standards. The September 2007 median poverty threshold of P10,000 per month in Metro Manila was equivalent to only P6,863 in base year 2000 purchasing power, the SWS said, a throwback to the living standards of 20 years ago. In four SWS surveys in 2000, the base year of the CPI, the median poverty threshold for Metro Manila was already P10,000 per month, equivalent to P14,570 based on the September 2007 cost of living. The difference of P14,570 — P10,000 = P4,570 between the thresholds of 2000 and September 2007, the SWS said, measures the extent of belt-tightening that took place. The median food poverty threshold of P4,500 in Metro Manila, meanwhile, was said to be equivalent to only P3,373 in base year 2000 purchasing power, the second-lowest deflated food poverty threshold recorded after the P3,075 in the last quarter. The SWS said the median food poverty threshold in December 2000 was P6,000 for Metro Manila, equivalent to P8,004 based on the September 2007 cost of food. The difference of P8,004 — P4,500 = P3,504 was the extent of belt-tightening made by food-poor Metro Manila households. Relationships The SWS said household heads’ ratings of their general poverty, food poverty, and experience of involuntary hunger were internally consistent. Among the self-rated food poor, the proportion of households experiencing hunger in the past three months was 31%, but only 14% in both the not food-poor and the food-borderline. Severe hunger, referring to families who experienced hunger "often" or "always" in the last three months, was 4.7% among poor households, 4.9% among the not poor, and 1.7% among families on the borderline. It was 6.5% among the self-rated food poor, compared to 2.8% among the not food-poor, and 1.6% among those on the food-borderline. Moderate hunger, referring to families who experienced hunger "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months, is 23.5% among poor households, 9.7% among the not poor, and 12.3% among those on the borderline. It was 24.9% among the self-rated food poor, 11.1% among the not food-poor, and 12.9% among families on the food-borderline. The SWS said that "as a concept, poverty allows for various degrees of deprivation. Those who suffer from hunger are much more deprived than those who simply suffer from poverty." The survey institute’s latest report on hunger was released last month. Reactions to survey results Ma. Lorelei Fajardo, deputy spokesman of the Office of the Press Secretary, said sufficient anti-poverty programs exist but not all people were aware of them. "There are a lot of projects that have yet to be known at the grassroots level," she said. "Some people think the government is doing nothing to address poverty and hunger but in fact we have a lot of programs like microfinance programs, cheap rice, farm to market roads, stores that sell lower-priced goods and various livelihood trainings." She said the National Anti-Poverty Commission would meet this week to assess the government’s pro-poor projects, in line with a recent directive by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo craft concrete plans on how to cascade economic gains to marginalized sectors. But Fernando T. Aldaba, an economist from Ateneo de Manila University, said "leakages" in the implementation of pro-poor programs prevent their benefits from reaching intended beneficiaries. "For instance, a study by the PIDS (Philippine Institute for Development Studies) shows that the targeted poor people are not reached by the food for school program. These are caused by factors like politics where the politician influences the selection of beneficiaries. It is possible that there are also leakages in other programs," he said. The PIDS study, released last July, criticized among others the way by which the beneficiaries of the Food for School program were determined. Mr. Aldaba said the government must improve its targeting rules so that its programs could really help people in poorest municipalities. He also called for more investments in education and training to enable people to find jobs. "There should also be growth in sectors where you can find the poor like agriculture and tourism. The government must also spread spending in regions and not be biased in urban areas," Mr. Aldaba said.