MANILA-While the economy is picking up under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the incidence of hunger is also rising, with 2.9 million families finding themselves with nothing to eat at one time or another in the third quarter of 2006, according to a survey by the independent Social Weather Stations.
Its recent survey nationwide showed that 16.9 percent of some 17.4 million households were hungry at least once over the past three months. A household has about five members.
The record was first reached in March,
but the figure dropped to 13.9 percent in June.
Hunger was highest in Mindanao
at 21.3 percent in September, SWS said.
The incidence of hunger declined in Metro
Manila (from 15 percent in June to 12.8 percent in September) but rose in the
rest of the country:
The rest of Luzon (from 10 percent to
14.7 percent), the Visayas (from 17.7 percent to 19.7 percent) and Mindanao (from 17.3 percent to 21.3 percent).
The SWS survey, conducted from Sept. 24
to Oct. 2, covered 1,200 households (300 each from Metro Manila, the rest of
Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao). It has a
margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for national data and plus
or minus 6 percentage points for regional data.
While the incidence of hunger rose, the
number of families considering themselves poor declined. Fifty-one percent
described themselves to be living in poverty, an improvement from the 59
percent the previous quarter.
“These results indicate that while some
families managed to cross the borderline of poverty, other families began to
suffer the deep deprivation of hunger," SWS said in a statement.
The number of families who said they were
experiencing severe hunger (going hungry often or always) rose to 4.6 percent
(about 800,000 households) in September from 3.4 percent in June.
Households experiencing moderate hunger
(those who had empty stomachs once or a few times) rose to 12.3 percent, about
2.1 million households, from 10.1 percent.
Those who rated themselves poor rose in
the Visayas, but declined in other areas, according to SWS.
Self-rated poverty went down in all areas
except in the Visayas.
Sixty-six percent of households in the
Visayas said they were poor, up from 59 percent. Those who rated themselves
poor declined in Metro Manila (from 54 percent to 46 percent), the rest of
Luzon (59 percent to 45 percent) and Mindanao
(from 61 percent to 53 percent).
Despite the rising cost of living, the
median self-rated poverty threshold, or the median monthly budget set by
self-rated poor households to escape poverty, declined in Metro Manila (from
P15,000 to P10,000) and in Mindanao (from P6,000 to P5,000).
It remained at P6,000 in the Visayas and
rose in the rest of Luzon
from P5,000 to P6,000.
