Hunger again on the rise

HUNGER among Filipino families has worsened, a first quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found, despite a drop in poverty claims during the same period.

The March 19-22 poll put the number of respondents who said they experienced having nothing to eat at 19.2%, equivalent to an estimated 3.9 million families and up from December’s 16.3%.

The increase contrasted with the same survey recording a decline in self-rated poverty to 52%, or some 10.6 million families, from 54% three months earlier.

“Hunger rose significantly between the two quarters,” the SWS said, noting that it increased among both the poor and the non-poor.

The March result, still, was well below the record 23.8% recorded a year earlier.

A Malacañang official said the government was working to address poverty, particularly in Mindanao where the SWS said hunger had worsened the most.

Economists, meanwhile, said the focus should be on job generation if gains were to be made.

A nearly three-point rise in moderate hunger — experiencing having nothing to eat once or a few times in the last three months — to 15.6% (3.2 million families) from 12.7% was behind the first quarter rise.

Severe hunger — which refers to experiencing it often or always — was unchanged at 3.6% or 726,000 families.

Overall hunger increased in all regions except Metro Manila, where it fell by almost four points to 21.7% (615,000 families) from 25.3%.

It climbed sharply in Mindanao to 29.2% (1.4 million families) from 20%, gained two points to 14.7% (1.3 million families) in Balance Luzon and inched up to 15% (580,000 families) from 13.3% in the Visayas.

Moderate hunger increased by almost seven points 22.7% in Mindanao from 16%. The rise was slower in the Visayas (13.7% from 10.7%) and Balance Luzon (12% from 9.7%). It fell by two points in Metro Manila, easing to 17.3% in March from 19.3% in December.

The latest moderate hunger rates are higher than their 14-year averages in all areas, the SWS said.

Severe hunger, meanwhile, was also highest in Mindanao where it rose by nearly three points to 6.7%. It slipped by less than a point in Balance Luzon, to 2.7% and by over a point in the Visayas and Metro Manila at 1.3% and 4.3%, respectively.

Severe hunger rates are lower than the 14-year averages in Balance Luzon and the Visayas but are higher in Mindanao and Metro Manila, the SWS said.

Considered in relation to the period’s poverty findings, the SWS said overall hunger rose to 25.5% from 22.7% among the self-rated poor and to 12.2% from 9% among the non-poor.

Among the self-rated food poor, hunger climbed sharply to 33.1% from 25.8%. It also rose to 10.4% from 8.8% among those who claimed to be not food poor.

Self-rated food poverty improved to 39% (7.9 million families) in March from 44% in December.

Sought for comment, Sec. Ramon “Ricky” A. Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said ending the long-standing conflict in Mindanao was crucial.

“This (the higher hunger incidence) validates our decision to launch Sajahatra early. We needed to address hunger and poverty there and the absence of armed conflict have us a chance to do that,” he said in a text message.

The Sajahatra Bangsamoro social welfare package, launched in January in Sultan Kudarat province, will be expanded to other Moro communities as part of a planned peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

University of Asia and the Pacific economist Victor A. Abola, meanwhile, said: “We are not going to make a headway in hunger and poverty unless we create more jobs.”

University of the Philippines economist Benjamin E. Diokno expressed the same sentiment, saying structural reforms were needed to “sustain strong and inclusive growth and in the process create a lot of decent jobs.”

“This (new survey) means poverty remains high and is persistent. It means the problem is structural. More decent, repeat, decent jobs have to be created every year…,” Mr. Diokno said.

The second quarter SWS survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. The error margins are ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages.