Malacañang has welcomed the latest survey showing record-low self-rated poverty in the country owing to the government’s reforms to uplift the lives of the poor.
“Change has indeed come, and it is being felt by our people,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said.
“For two consecutive quarters, Filipino families who considered themselves mahirap/poor reached new record low,” Andanar added.
The Social Weather Stations survey conducted last December showed 44 percent of families or around 10 million considered themselves poor, up four percent from 9.4 million in September 2016. “These surpassed the previous record of 47 percent in 1987,” Andanar said.
Andanar said the survey results demonstrates “we are on the right direction in putting emphasis on poverty alongside the war on drugs and crime.”
“The President’s first Executive Order, if you will recall, is streamlining the agencies of government that deal with poverty. He wants simpler and faster services that will address the needs of the poorest of the poor constituency,” he said.
Andanar acknowledged that self-rated poverty rose in Balance Luzon due to the impact of a string of typhoons last year. “We thus factor in stronger-than-usual typhoons that hit Luzon towards the latter part of the year which may have affected the perception of our respondents,” he said. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)