IN THE April 28 – May 2, 2021 survey of the Social Weather Stations, 49 percent of families described themselves as poor, while only 17 percent described themselves as not poor. Meanwhile, 33 percent of families responded that they identified themselves as borderline poor. This number is not far from pre-COVID levels — self-rated poverty was at 45 percent on average in 2019.
In the same survey, 32 percent of the respondents said they were food-poor, 45 percent said their food was borderline poor, while 23 percent said their food was not poor. Food-poor means that they characterize the food they consume as poor.
The survey also found adult joblessness at 25.8 percent of the adult labor force. This is 1.5 points down from the 27.3 percent in November 2020 but still 8.3 points higher than the pre-pandemic level of 17.5 percent in December 2019.
It is concerning that the rates of poverty, hunger, and joblessness are rising while the country is facing a pandemic. Yes we are in a pandemic, but it does not justify the government’s lackluster response to these problems. It’s been over a year since the pandemic and yet the government is still not at par with what is required to respond to this crisis,
Surveys are only a glimpse of what Filipinos experience from their day to day struggles against hunger, poverty, and the government’s incompetent pandemic response. Despite the massive amount of loans from other countries, Philippines remain to be one of the worst countries to handle the pandemic. As the Filipino people call for a better response to the pandemic, 660 Billion of Bayanihan funds remain undisbursed, according to Department of Budget and Management. One main reason of the delay is the implementation issues among the agencies concerned.
Different groups also called to certify relief measures as urgent as sessions in both lower and upper house resumes. It is not true that there are no more budget for the 10,000 relief aid and 100 emergency wage relief for workers. The undisbursed funds and other possible re-alignment of budget from institutions make this relief aid possible. All it takes is for the government to adopt the provision of immediate and sufficient aid to families and individuals affected by the pandemic and the adoption of appropriate medical solutions to the pandemic should be the government’s top priorities if we are all to overcome this situation.
The survey results highlight the insufficiency of government’s response to the pandemic and the worsening economic crisis. The rising numbers of self-rated poverty and unemployment is a testament that the government is failing in its response to food and job security, while the continuous ebb and flow in COVID cases also shows its failure to implement appropriate medical measures to help us get out of this situation.
