Palace hopes quality of life of more Filipinos to improve

The survey also showed that adults from families that were involuntarily hungry in the last three months posed a higher losers’ score than gainers and among the unchanged. (File: Photo by Brian Evans/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA – Malacañang is saddened by results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed that four out of five Filipinos said their quality of life has worsened in the past 12 months.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque acknowledged that Filipinos would feel that their life worsened due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

“Siyempre po nalulungkot tayo diyan pero ‘yan naman po ay dahil sa pandemiya (Of course, we are sad to hear that, but that’s because of the pandemic),” he said.

However, he expressed hope that Filipinos’ quality of life would improve once a vaccine for Covid-19 becomes available.

“Tingin ko naman po, bubuti naman ang buhay natin, palabas na po ang bakuna at natututo na rin tayo mabuhay bagamat nandiyan ang Covid-19 (I think our lives will improve, a vaccine will soon be available and we are living to live with Covid-19),” he added.

The SWS survey, from Sept. 17 to 20, showed that 82 percent of adult Filipinos believed that their quality of life worsened (termed by SWS as “losers”), while 11 percent said it was the same, and only 6 percent said it got better (termed as “gainers”).

The resulting net gainers score in September 2020 is -76 which is considered by SWS as “catastrophic.”

Net gainers score is computed by subtracting the percentage of “losers” from the percentage of “gainers.”

The SWS considers the score “catastrophic” if it is -50 and below.

“The September 2020 score joins SWS’s worst trends in survey history, having recorded -78 in May and -72 in July during the Covid-19 crisis.

The only other time the score reached catastrophic level was in June 2008 (-50), during rice and oil price hikes,” the SWS said.

It showed that net gainers score stayed “catastrophic” across the country, with a score of -80 in the Visayas, -76 in Metro Manila, -75 in Balance Luzon, and -74 in Mindanao.

Net gainers scores have worsened in all areas in the country compared to figures in July with Mindanao experiencing the biggest drop of nine points; Visayas, five points; Metro Manila, four points and Balance Luzon, one point.

The SWS said the net gainers score is significantly worse among those who did not graduate from college, but the net gainers score hardly varies by job status.

The survey also showed that adults from families that were involuntarily hungry in the last three months posed a higher losers’ score than gainers and among the unchanged.

Net gainers score was -84 among the hungry, compared to -72 among those who did not experience involuntary hunger, the SWS said.

The survey also found that hunger rate is significantly higher among losers.

Among “losers,” 34 percent experienced involuntary hunger (24 percent moderate and 10 percent severe).

Meanwhile, 23 percent of gainers and 17 percent of those whose quality of life was the same in the past 12 months went hungry.

The SWS survey was conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviews of 1,249 adult Filipinos or those aged 18 and above.

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 Visayas, and ±6 percent for Mindanao.