SWS POLL: PINOYS INVOLUNTARY HUNGER DIPS IN FIRST QUARTER
MANILA, MAY 7, 2008 (STAR) By Helen Flores - Filipinos who have experienced hunger in the past three months declined slightly even as a majority of them expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Arroyo administration is addressing the problem, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported yesterday.In its First Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey, conducted from March 28 to 31, SWS said families experiencing hunger at least once in the last three months dropped to 15.7 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from 16.2 percent in December last year.
“The latest hunger figure, equivalent to 2.8 million families, is a slight decline from 16.2 percent in December 2007, but is still four points above the 12 percent average percentage of hunger in 40 quarterly SWS surveys from mid-1998 to the present,” the SWS said in a statement.
The survey came as the government is grappling with a shortage in rice supply.
The measure of hunger refers to involuntary suffering because the respondents answer a survey question that specifies hunger due to lack of anything to eat, SWS explained.
Meanwhile, the survey also found 27 percent satisfied and 53 percent dissatisfied with the performance of the Arroyo administration to ensure that no family will be hungry, for a negative net satisfaction rating of –26, declining by four percentage points from –22 in December 2007.
“Dissatisfaction has always dominated the issue on ensuring that no family will be hungry since SWS first surveyed it in August 2005, when the net satisfaction rating was –31, and reached a record low of –34 in March 2006,” the survey firm said.
The net satisfaction rating is the difference between the percentage of satisfied and unsatisfied responses.
SWS said hunger incidence declined in all areas except in Luzon.
Hunger rose by two points in Luzon, from 14 percent in December 2007 to 16 percent in March 2008, or about four points above the nine-year average of 11.5 percent for that area, the SWS said.
It fell by three points in Metro Manila, from 19 percent to 15.7 percent, which is five points above the nine-year average of 10.9 percent, the SWS said.
Incidence of hunger declined by two points in the Visayas, from 14.3 percent to 12.3 percent, just a point above the nine-year average of 11.6 percent, it said.
Hunger decreased by two points in Mindanao, from 20.3 percent to 18 percent, which is four points above the nine-year average of 14.1 percent, the SWS said.
Moderate hunger, referring to those who experienced it “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, declined from 12.9 percent in December to 12.5 percent in March, which is four points above the nine-year average moderate hunger rate of 8.8 percent. This category also includes a few who did not state their frequency of hunger, the SWS said.
Moderate hunger went down in Metro Manila, from 12.7 percent to 10.3, and in the Visayas, from 13.3 percent to 11 percent. It rose slightly in balance Luzon from 11.7 percent to 12.3 percent and in Mindanao, from 15 percent to 15.3 percent, it said.
On the other hand, severe hunger, referring to those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months, went from 3.3 percent in December to 3.2 percent in March. The nine-year average severe hunger rate is also 3.3 percent, the pollster said.
Severe hunger declined by almost three points in Mindanao, from 5.3 percent to 2.7 percent, which is well below the nine-year average of 4.6 percent. It also declined in Metro Manila, from 6.3 percent to 5.3 percent.
However, it went up in balance Luzon, from 2.3 percent to 3.7 percent, just a point above its nine-year average of 2.7 percent. It slightly rose in the Visayas, from one percent to 1.3 percent, still below the nine-year average of 3.2 percent, it said.
The SWS survey questions about household hunger are directed to the household head, using the phrase “experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat.”
SWS used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 statistically representative household heads that include 300 each in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
“Error margins of plus or minus three percent for national percentages and plus or minus six percent for regional percentages should be applied,” the SWS said.
“The quarterly Social Weather Surveys on household hunger and public satisfaction with the national administration on fighting hunger are not commissioned, but are done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service, with first printing rights assigned to BusinessWorld,” it said.
Malacañang welcomed the results of the survey, saying it showed the hunger mitigation programs of the government are working.
“We are happy there is an improvement,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. “It is an indication that the programs of government for improving the quality of life of citizens are working.”
Meanwhile, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said undernourished public school children will increase by 20 to 22 percent this coming school year from the 2 million undernourished pupils recorded last year.
Magdalene Portia Cariaga of the Health and Nutrition of DepEd, told a forum at the Balitaan sa Tinapayan in Sampaloc, Manila, that the department has started making mitigating measures in order to address the issues of undernourished public school children.
Some of the programs they have come up with are the feeding and medical programs.
Cariaga said that one proposal made was to bring back the concept of distributing “nutribun,” the compact bread distributed to public school students during the martial law years.
She said the department does not have enough funds to sustain the nutribun program. — With Marvin Sy, Sandy Araneta
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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