Latest hunger survey underscores importance of reopening the economy —Palace

Malacañang on Wednesday expressed sadness over the new survey that showed 5.2 million families experienced involuntary hunger over the past three months amid the movement restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Conducted from July 3 to 6, the mobile poll of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found 20.9% of Filipino families (representing 5.2 million families) experienced hunger due to lack of food to eat, up from 16.7% in May.

Of the 20.9% who experienced involuntary hunger, 15.8% or 3.9 families suffered from moderate hunger while 5.1% or 1.3 million families experienced severe hunger.

“We are saddened by the latest SWS survey,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

“Many lost their jobs during the pandemic. The resumption of public transportation was calibrated and phased. The economy had only started to open. These factors contributed to the respondents saying they experienced hunger.”

Roque added the results of the survey underscored the importance of “opening the economy and providing livelihood opportunities to our people.”

“We therefore call on our citizens that in order to save the economy and people’s jobs, we first have to save lives by ramping up testing for COVID-19 and observing the minimum public health standards by wearing masks, washing hands and keeping a safe distance,” he said.

With 72,269 cases, the Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia. With several hospitals reporting that their COVID-19 wards have reached capacity, the government is now requiring public hospitals to increase their bed allocation for virus patients to 50–70 percent.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to unveil the country’s COVID-19 recovery plan on July 27 when he delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address. — BM, GMA News