(Eagle News) — The Palace on Friday, April 27, welcomed the huge drop in the number of families who rate themselves as poor, as reported by the Social Weather Stations.
In a statement, Roque said the record-low 42 percent of self-rated poverty since September 2016 was proof the administration’s “poverty-alleviation efforts” were “gaining ground.”
“We continue to assure everyone that no one will be left in the Duterte administration,” Roque said.
He said in particular, the government “would enhance our social protection mechanisms, which include quality healthcare and conditional cash transfers through revenues generated by the first package of the comprehensive tax reform program while expanding regional and countryside development to bring comfortable life to the marginalized and disadvantaged families.”
On Thursday, April 26, the SWS said the 42 percent self-rated poverty was two points below the 44 percent recorded in December 2017.
“The proportion of self-rated poor families stayed within the 44% to 50% range for the whole of 2017,” the SWS said.
The survey done from March 23 to 27 made use of face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Sampling error margins were pegged at ±3% for national percentages, and at ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.