(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, Jan. 17, welcomed the results of a recent Social Weather Stations survey that showed the average hunger rate in the country in 2018 was the lowest since 2003.
“The best is yet to come, as the Chief Executive continues to work double time in the remainder of his term to uplift more Filipino families out of poverty and hunger, towards a more comfortable and prosperous life for all,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Panelo, the results of the survey were “consistent” with the result of an earlier SWS survey that showed less Filipino families consider themselves as “mahirap” or “poor.”
He said based on the survey results, the President’s “sincere endeavors, whether in taming inflation or running the bureaucracy, have started to bear fruits.”
“The Palace considers the improvement experienced by the survey participants in relation to their economic status as among the paramount reasons why President Rodrigo Duterte continues to win the trust and approval of the Filipino people,” Panelo said.
He also noted the Department of Finance’s forecast that the Philippines was expected to become an upper-middle income country this year.
In its December 16 to 19 survey, the SWS said the average hunger rate of 10.8 percent in 2018 was the lowest annual average hunger rate in 15 years.
The SWS said that in particular, 10.5 percent or an estimated 2.4 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.
This is 2.8 points lower than the 13.3 percent, or an estimated 3.1 million families, hunger in September 2018.
