Survey shows slightly fewer Filipinos feel poor now

from The Inquirer

By Kate V. Pedroso
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- Fewer Filipino families now consider themselves "poor" compared to the previous quarter of the year, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The Second Quarter 2007 SWS survey conducted in June found that while nearly one in every two Filipino families (47 percent) -- or roughly 3.8 million households nationwide -- still consider themselves poor, this was lower than the 53 percent (over 4.2 million households) who considered themselves poor in February.

Across geographical areas, self-rated poverty was at 52 percent in the Visayas, 49 percent in Mindanao, 47 percent in the rest of Luzon and 36 percent in Metro Manila -- all lower than in the previous three quarters.

It was also lower at 41 percent in urban areas and at 54 percent in rural areas. "From March 2005 to February 2007, urban poverty was between 46 percent to 56 percent, and rural poverty was between 49 percent to 64 percent," the SWS said in a statement released Tuesday.

The private polling firm added that the decline occurred "in the context of a lowering of families' living standards" -- in other words, belt-tightening.

The National Statistical Coordination Board put the official poverty threshold nationwide at P6,195 a month -- the amount needed by a Filipino family of five to meet its most basic food and non-food needs for this year.

The self-rated poverty threshold is defined as the monthly budget that poor households say they need in order not to be poor.

The survey, directed at household heads, first showed the respondents a card that contained the words "Not poor", "On the line" and "Poor" and were asked where they would place their family given the choices.

Those who answered "poor" were then asked, "How much money would your family need for home expenses each month in order not to be called poor anymore?"

Among poor households in Metro Manila, the median poverty threshold was only P9,000, although it had already reached as much as P15,000 several times in the past.

In Luzon outside Metro Manila, the threshold ranged from P5,000 to P7,000 in the past two years, whereas it had reached as high as P10,000 earlier. In the Visayas, the threshold was at P6,000 for the past year, even as it had reached P10,000 previously. In Mindanao, the threshold is currently at P4,000 even though it reached P10,000 before.

"A declining poverty threshold, despite rising cost of living, means that households are lowering their living standards," the SWS said.

It also noted that the current Metro Manila median poverty threshold of P9,000 per month was only equivalent to P6,259 in base year 2000 purchasing power. "The last time that the deflated poverty threshold for [Metro Manila] was below P7,000 per month was twenty years ago, in 1987," the SWS said.

It also noted that in 2000, the median poverty threshold for Metro Manila of P10,000 was now equivalent to P14,380 a month at the June 2007 cost of living. "The difference of... P5,380 between the thresholds of 2000 and June 2007 measures the extent of belt-tightening that took place," SWS added.

The survey was conducted from June 27 to June 30 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It had a margin of error of plus-minus 3 percentage points.

The SWS survey questions on poverty were not commissioned.