SWS survey shows 5.2-M Filipinos go hungry at least once in past 3 months

The 20.9 percent hunger rate was 4.2 points higher from the 16.7 percent in May 2020, and 12.1 points higher from December 2019’s 8.8 percent. (Pexels photo)

An estimated 5.2 million or 20.9 percent of Filipino families experienced “involuntary hunger,” or those who went hungry because they lack food to eat, at least once in the last three months, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

According to the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from July 3 to 6 and was published on Tuesday, July 21, this figure is the highest hunger rate since the 22.0 percent in September 2014. The 20.9 percent hunger rate was 4.2 points higher from the 16.7 percent in May 2020, and 12.1 points higher from December 2019’s 8.8 percent.

Among the 20.9 percent Filipino families who went hungry, 15.8 percent or 3.9 million of them experienced “moderate hunger,” or those who suffered from hunger “only once or a few times” in the last three months. Meanwhile, 5.1 percent or 1.3 million families have undergone “severe hunger,” or those who got hungry “often or always.”

Moderate hunger climbed to 15.8 percent this month, the highest since the 17.6 percent recorded in September 2014. Severe hunger also increased to 5.1 percent, the highest since the 5.4 percent in June 2013.

The SWS said hunger rose in both Visayas and Balance Luzon, compared to the May 2020 record. From 14.6 percent, hunger increased to 27.2 percent in Visayas, while it climbed to 17.8 percent in Balance Luzon from the previous 12.6 percent. Hunger in Mindanao did not move an inch, staying at 24.2 percent, but it fell to 16.3 percent from 20.8 percent in Metro Manila.

The latest poll was done through the use of mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of 1,555 Filipinos nationwide. It has sampling error margins of plus-minus two percent for national percentages, plus-minus six percent for Metro Manila, and plus-minus five percent each for Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Metro Manila and other areas in the country have been kept under a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) until July 31, where some individuals are allowed to make ends meet but must strictly follow the minimum health standards when going out. Malacañang, however, earlier warned that Metro Manila could be put under the more stringent modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) if the COVID-19 situation in the capital region will not improve.