New poverty survey elates Arroyo

from The Inquirer

By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- With fewer Filipinos now perceiving themselves as poor, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the challenge for the administration in the remainder of her term is to spread the payback of the economic turnaround to the people, especially the poorest.

“I am glad that the self-rated poverty incidence has gone down again, the lowest in 20 years,” said Arroyo.

“This is the result of the tough economic reforms we implemented, stability and increased confidence of the international financial community in the country,” the President said in remarks at the National Economic and Development Authority and National Anti-Poverty Commission-Cabinet Group meeting shortly before she left for a seven-day trip to Switzerland and the Middle East Tuesday.

Arroyo was referring to the latest Social Weather Stations survey results showing that self-rated poverty incidence in the fourth quarter of 2007 went down to 46 percent from 52 percent three months before.

This is solid proof that the administration’s antipoverty and anti-hunger programs are on the right track, she said.

She said the survey results were a significant improvement over the June 2004 survey, which showed one of the lowest declines in self-rated poverty incidence since 1987.

The last time self-rated poverty went below 50 percent under the Arroyo administration was in June 2007 at 47 percent, down from 49 percent in August 2005, the SWS said.

It also noted that self-rated poverty has been on a generally downward trend since mid-2006.

However, many Filipinos did not yet feel the benefits of the growing economy, Arroyo said.

This was why the government was now focusing its efforts on ways and means to spread the payback of the economic turnaround, particularly among the poorest Filipinos, she said.

Arroyo said she convened the meeting to consult various sectors, including religious groups and other stakeholders, to map out plans to further strengthen the antipoverty programs.