Are We Filipinos Poor?

Filipinos always seem to have a unique way of coping with economic difficulties, so much so that it is often hard to tell if the economy is tanking, especially if you live in the bubble of centric Metro Manila.

- MARIANNE GO

According to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from April 11 to 15, a substantial 15.5 million Filipino families consider themselves poor. As such, according to the SWS survey, the percentage of Filipinos who rate themselves as poor is now at its highest at 55 percent.

I was slightly confused by other percentage numbers reported by the SWS survey, which indicated that 32 percent of families do not consider themselves poor, indicating an improvement from the record high of 36 percent that the SWS survey had seen for the first quarter of this year.

Only 12 percent of Filipino families surveyed felt that they were borderline poor, maintaining the same percentage recorded during the first quarter of the year.

The SWS survey further indicated that self-rated poverty rose in all areas of the country except balance Luzon, or Luzon outside Metro Manila, which had a slight decline. Self-rated poverty was recorded as highest in Mindanao at 70 percent, Visayas at 67 percent, Metro Manila at 45 percent and Luzon outside Metro Manila at 44 percent.

Like I said, it is often hard to feel in Metro Manila that the economy might not really be doing as well, especially when our government always wants to paint a rosy picture that they are handling all economic matters well even though the cost of living keeps on rising with the recent upward adjustments in electricity, water, food and toll costs.