Palace vows to work harder to fight hunger, poverty

The assurance was made after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that fewer Filipinos experienced hunger in the third quarter of this year. (File Photo: Brian Evans/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration is stepping up its efforts to lower the hunger and poverty incidence in the country, Malacañang said on Friday.

The assurance was made after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that fewer Filipinos experienced hunger in the third quarter of this year.

The SWS, in its September 27 to 30 survey, noted that the number of Filipino families who experienced “involuntary” hunger from July to September 2019 period fell to 9.1 percent or an estimated 2.3 million, down by 0.8 percentage point from June’s 10 percent or an estimated 2.5 million Filipino families.

“The Office of the President welcomes the results of the survey administered by the Social Weather Stations for third quarter this year which indicate that self-rated hunger dropped from 10 percent in June 2019 to nine percent in September 2019,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“Despite this, as well as the countless accomplishments it has attained, this Administration has never had an attitude to laze away or rest on its laurels,” he added.

Panelo said the poll results are consistent with the September survey by the SWS, which showed a decrease among Filipino families who consider themselves “poor.”

He was referring to the poll which revealed that 42 percent or 10.3 million Filipino families believed they are poor, down by three percentage points from June’s 45 percent or 11 million Filipino families.

The improvement experienced by survey participants in relation to their socioeconomic status was among the reasons why Duterte “continues to win the satisfaction, approval, and trust of the Filipino people,” Panelo said.

Panelo said the results of the SWS survey motivate the President and his administration to continue implementing anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs aimed at uplifting the lives of the Filipino people.

“The Chief Executive, together with his official family and their workforces, will, therefore, continue to hustle, not only to uplift more Filipino families out of the quagmire of indigence and hunger but also, to prevent our countrymen from falling or reverting back to poverty by addressing its very root causes,” he said.

Duterte on October 10 approved the Expanded Partnership against Hunger and Poverty, a program involving more state departments that will work closely together to eradicate hunger in the country by 2030.

On Thursday, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said the results of the SWS poll were a testament that the efforts of the Duterte administration to eradicate hunger in the country are “working.”