‘More needs to be done’ after poor Pinoys rise to 10.9M: Palace

MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday said it recognizes that “more” needs to be done to help lift Filipinos out of poverty after a survey showed that the number of Filipinos who consider their families as “poor” has slightly increased to 10.9 million.

Results of the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 43 percent of the 1,440 respondents considered their families poor.

This figure is similar to the 43 percent who said their families were poor in a survey conducted last December, but the SWS said the number increased from 10.7 to 10.9 million.

In a press statement, acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar acknowledged the Duterte administration’s promise to give every Filipino a “comfortable life.”

He, however, said the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on income and job opportunities as reflected in the SWS survey.

“It is for this reason that we have accelerated social and economic recovery while managing the risk due to Covid-19,” Andanar said.

He said the government is carrying out immediate efforts such as shifting more areas in the country to Alert Level 1 to further improve the performance of key sectors such as tourism and opening of schools for face-to-face learning.

“We recognize that much more needs to be done to lift Filipino families from their poor condition,” he said.

Andanar expressed hope that the adoption of a 10-point policy agenda that aims to sustain the economic recovery from the pandemic would help reduce the country’s self-rated poverty rate.

“We have therefore adopted a Ten-Point Policy Agenda for Economic Recovery last April 2022 where all government agencies are directed to ensure all-related policies, programs and measures of the government are aligned with the Ten-Point Policy Agenda,” he added.

The policy agenda was adopted under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) 166 inked on March 21 this year.

Under EO 166, the adoption of the 10-point policy agenda will help fast-track economic recovery and drive broad-based expansions across various productive sectors, amid the pandemic.

The EO adopted by the IATF-EID directs the government offices to strengthen health care capacity; accelerate and expand the vaccination program; further reopen the economy and expand public transport capacity; resume face-to-face learning; reduce restrictions on domestic travel and standardize local government units’ requirements; and relax requirements for international travel.

It also mandates the national government to accelerate digital transformation through legislative measures; provide for enhanced and flexible emergency measures through legislation; shift the focus of decision-making and government reporting to more useful and empowering metrics; and undertake medium-term preparation for pandemic resilience.