71% of Pinoys get aid ‘fulfillment’ of PRRD’s vow

Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed that 71 percent of Filipinos said their families received financial assistance from the government.(PNA file photo)

MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed that 71 percent of Filipinos said their families received financial assistance from the government.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the SWS survey results are proof that help from the government “has been felt by a great number” of people.

“This is indeed a fulfillment of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s vow to make up for the loss of economic opportunities when quarantine measures were imposed,” he said in a statement.

Roque said the primary recipients of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s social amelioration program (SAP) and the Department of Labor and Employment’s Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP), Tulong Panghanap-buhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), and Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) are the most vulnerable sectors and those severely affected by the lockdown.

The SWS survey’s 71 percent figure hardly changed from the 72 percent recorded in July.

It also showed that 67 percent of Filipinos said their families received financial aid once, and 29 percent received it twice.

The remaining 2 percent received it thrice, 1 percent received it four times, and 0.21 percent received it five times.

Seventy-one percent whose families received financial assistance said they received an average total of PHP7,531 since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

The survey also found out financial aid distribution was most widespread and frequent in Metro Manila compared to other areas.

“The proportion of those whose families received money-help from (the) government was highest in Metro Manila (82 percent), followed by the Visayas (73 percent), Balance Luzon (70 percent), and Mindanao (64 percent),” it read.

Meanwhile, the survey also showed that Metro Manila families received the highest average amount compared to those in Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

“In particular, since the start of the crisis, families in Metro Manila received an average amount of PHP11,024 (median PHP10,000), followed by Balance Luzon with an average of PHP7,481 (median PHP6,000), the Visayas with an average of PHP6,833 (median PHP6,000), and Mindanao with an average of PHP5,664 (median PHP5,000),” the survey read.

It also showed that more families in urban areas (75 percent) received financial aid from the government than in rural areas (67 percent).

“Families in urban areas received an average of PHP8,721 (median PHP6,900), higher than the average of PHP6,306 (median PHP5,000) received by families in rural areas,” the survey said.

The survey was conducted from Sept. 17 to 20 using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of 1,249 adult Filipinos nationwide.

It had a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages, ±6 percent for Metro Manila, ±5 percent for Balance Luzon, ±6 percent for the Visayas, and ±6 percent for Mindanao.