The count of poor Filipino families in the country has gone down according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in September.
Based on the survey, only 45% of 11.4 million said they were less poor compared to the SWS Survey in June which showed that 48% or 12 million considered themselves as poor.
Data showed that most of those who said they were poor were from Visayas and Metro Manila.
However, the number of people who claim they are poor decreased in the Visayas, contributing to the dip from 48% to 45%.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said the decrease in Filipino families rating themselves as poor is welcome progress on the government’s efforts to reopen the economy.
“The results of the survey—particularly the decrease of Filipino families rating themselves as ‘mahirap,’ from 48% in June 2021 to 45% in September 2021—show that progress has been made in our efforts to reopen the economy and bounce back from the adverse economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nograles said.
“The government believes that the increase in percentage of the vaccinated population and the drop in new COVID infections put us in a position to safely expand economic activities that will positively impact employment and reduce poverty,” he said.
The government’s economic team has estimated that placing Metro Manila, the center of trade and business in the Philippines, under Alert Level 2, will boost the economy by P3.6 billion and employment by 16,000 per week.
“We thank those in government, the private sector, and our people for doing their part to revitalize our economy so that we can resume the positive strides we were making in reducing poverty prior to the pandemic,” Nograles added. –Report from Louisa Erispe/PG – bny
