Palace on drop in hunger rate: ‘Best is yet to come’

Malacañang on Thursday welcomed the results of a new survey showing that the hunger rate involving Filipino families in 2018 was the lowest in 15 years.

The December 16 to 19, 2018 poll of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that 10.5 percent or about 2.4 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The figure is lower than the previous survey conducted in September 2018 in which 13.3 percent or 3.1 million families experienced hunger.

The average hunger rate for 2018 is at 10.8 percent — 1.5 points lower than the 12.3 percent average in 2017 and the lowest annual average hunger rate since 2003, which was at 7 percent.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the “positive development” was “consistent” with the result of an earlier SWS survey showing a decrease among Filipino families who consider themselves as “mahirap” or “poor.”

The December 2018 survey found that 50 percent of the families (estimated at 11.6 million) consider themselves as "mahirap.”

This was two points below the 52 percent (estimated at 12.2 million) recorded in its September survey.

“The Palace considers the improvement experienced by the survey participants in relation to their economic status as among the paramount reasons why President Rodrigo Duterte continues to win the trust and approval of the Filipino people,” Panelo said.

He also said that the President’s “sincere endeavors, whether in taming inflation or running the bureaucracy, have started to bear fruits.”

Panelo cited the growing economy and the Department of Finance’s forecast that the Philippines is set to become an upper-middle income country this year.

“The best is yet to come, as the Chief Executive continues to work double time in the remainder of his term to uplift more Filipino families out of poverty and hunger, towards a more comfortable and prosperous life for all,” he said. — MDM, GMA News