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Record self-poverty decline shows Pinoys feeling gov’t action
Felongco expressed confidence in the government’s plan to combat poverty and deliver basic services to the poor.
He cited the need for inclusive participation of everyone in combatting poverty. (Saiko3p / Shutterstock)
MANILA — The recent record-low decline in self-rated poverty (SRP) shows that Filipinos are now starting to feel government actions to improve their lives, National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) lead convenor Secretary Noel Felongco said Friday.
“While we believe that no Filipino should suffer from poverty, the significant decline in SRP manifests that the people are now feeling and are benefitting from the government’s concrete actions to bring down a majority of basic services to the grassroots level,” he said in a statement.
Felongco expressed confidence in the government’s plan to combat poverty and deliver basic services to the poor. He cited the need for inclusive participation of everyone in combatting poverty.
“We uphold that our poverty reduction efforts can be fully realized and become sustainable if we actively involve the basic sectors and the people in the community primarily through NAPC’s Ka-Sambayanihan Volunteer Program,” he said.
The Ka-Sambayanihan Volunteer Program, Felongco said, aims to boost the initiatives of the people to actively participate and engage in NAPC’s poverty alleviation program.
The NAPC head said their agency also developed a five-year development plan, called Sambayanihan Serbisyong Sambayanan or SSS, which pushes for a climate-responsive, culture-responsive, and gender-sensitive anti-poverty strategy.
Felongco vowed NAPC’s full efforts in the administration’s drive against poverty.
“NAPC vows to intensify our continuing efforts in ensuring the efficiency of poverty reduction programs and projects of the government geared towards uplifting the lives of the poor and building a future where no Filipino is left behind,” he said.
Of the families surveyed in the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) polls from March 28 to 31, 2019, a record-low 38 percent or an estimated 9.5 million families consider themselves as poor.
The SWS noted that this is 12 points below the 50 percent (around 11.
6 million) in December 2018, and four points below the previous record-low of 42 percent in September 2016 and March 2018.
