Hunger claims have risen in tandem with poverty, with a record-high number of Filipino families saying they experienced having nothing to eat based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The nationwide poll, fielded over March 10-13, found the proportion of respondents who experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months at 23.8%, equivalent to an estimated 4.8 million families and up from the 22.5% (4.5 million families) recorded last December.
While hunger incidence has been over 20% in the past three quarters, the SWS said the latest count surpassed the previous 23.7% peak recorded in December 2008.
Cabinet officials attributed the increase to recent calamities, among them tropical storm Sendong that devastated parts of Mindanao and the Visayas last December. They said the government would continue ramping up its anti-poverty and nutrition programs, and is continuing its conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to reach the poorest households.
The hunger findings follow the SWS’ release last week of its self-rated poverty survey where 55% of the respondents — equivalent to an estimated 11.1 million families — claimed to be poor, a 10-point jump to the highest result so far for the Aquino administration.
The latest measure of hunger, which refers to involuntary suffering due to the lack of anything to eat, was due to slight increases in “moderate” as well as “severe hunger.”
Those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times”, including the few who did not state their frequency of hunger, are categorized under moderate hunger. Severe hunger, meanwhile, refers to those who experienced hunger “often” or “always.”
Moderate hunger saw a 0.3-point increase to 18.0% (estimated 3.7 million families) from 17.7% (est. 3.6 million families) last December.
Severe hunger, meanwhile, saw a 1.1-point increase to a near record-high 5.8% (1.2 million families) from 4.7% (est. 955,000 families). The new count is just below the 6.0% peak hit in March 2001.
The SWS said household heads’ claims about poverty in general, being poor in terms of food and going hungry were “internally consistent.”
It said hunger was at 32.4% among the self-rated poor, more than double the 13.5% for those who said they were not poor. This compares to December’s 33.6% hunger rate among the self-rated poor and the 13.3% among the not poor/borderline.
Similarly, 37.3% among the self-rated food poor claimed to have experienced hunger in the first quarter, almost three times the 13.0% among the not food-poor/food-borderline. Last December, the hunger rate was 38.1% among the self-rated food poor and 13.7% among the not food-poor/food-borderline.
Severe hunger incidence, the SWS said, increased to 9.2% from 8.0% among the self-rated poor but fell to 1.7% from 2.1% for the not poor/borderline families. Among the self-rated food poor, severe hunger rose to 10.5% from 9.1%, whereas it went down to 2.0% from 2.3% among the not food-poor/food-borderline.
Moderate hunger among self-rated poor families, meanwhile, dropped to 23.2% from 25.6%. Among not poor/borderline families, it went to 11.8% from 11.2%. The figure went to 26.8% from 29.0% among the self-rated food poor, and dipped to 11.0% from 11.4% among the not food-poor/food-borderline.
Across geographical areas, overall hunger increased everywhere but the Visayas, where it fell 14.7 points to 10.3% (est. 399,500 families) from 25.0% (957,000 families).
It rose by seven points in Mindanao, to 26.7% (1.3 million families); five points in Balance Luzon, to 28.0% (est. 2.5 million families) — just 0.3 point shy of last September’s record-high; and by 2.3 points in Metro Manila to 24.3% (est. 691,000 families).
Moderate hunger fell by 14.3 points in the Visayas to 7.7%, dipped by 0.7 point in Metro Manila to 16.3%, but rose by five points to 22.0% in Balance Luzon and by four points to 20.0% in Mindanao. The SWS said these were still higher than the 13-year averages for all areas, except in the Visayas where it was 2.8 points below its 13-year average of 10.5%.
Severe hunger, meanwhile, fell slightly in the Visayas to 2.7% from 3.0% and stayed at 6.0% in Balance Luzon. However, it rose by three points in both Metro Manila, to 8.0%, and in Mindanao, to 6.7%. The latest rates are higher than their 13-year averages in all areas except in the Visayas where it was just below the 13-year average of 3.2%, the SWS said.
Sought for comment, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration was continuing to address the issues of poverty and hunger but noted that calamities had dealt setbacks to programs.
“The ill effects are still being felt of the calamities last year” Mr. Lacierda yesterday said.
“CCT is there, but CCT will not be able to help at once because there is displacement and dislocation. It’s understandable that they would rate themselves as poor or hungry…,” he added.
“We are directly addressing this, otherwise we won’t be pushing for a greater number of CCT beneficiaries … we believe that our programs are taking effect.”
For her part, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon J. Soliman noted that the areas where hunger incidence was highest coincided with last year’s typhoon damage.
She said a total of 3,029,374 households — mostly in Mindanao — were enrolled in the CCT program as of March 21. Through the program, poor households receive as much as P1,400 per month provided that children are sent to school and expectant mother gets check-ups.
The latest SWS poll involved face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents. The error margins used were ±3% anfor national and ±6% for area percentages.
***
By: Johanna Paola D. Poblete
Source: BusinessWorlde, May 8, 2012
To view the original article, click here.
Comment here