SWS survey shows Filipino lowering poverty standards

“The Social Weather Station (SWS) latest survey showed how indifferent ordinary Filipinos have become to Arroyo’s promise of a better life since it has failed them time and again.”

This was the reaction of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center to the latest SWS survey results showing the number of Filipinos believing they are poor dropped to 47% despite continued increase in the prices of basic commodities while wages remain nailed to the floor.

The survey showed that in Metro Manila, a monthly budget of PhP 9,000 was said to be enough despite Self-Rated Poverty Threshold (SRPT) already reaching as much as PhP 15,000 in the past. SWS stated the PhP 5,380, the difference between the previous SRPT of PhP 14,380 and the latest SRPT of PhP 9,000, measure the extent of belt-tightening that happened.

"Lowering of poverty standards is a direct off-shoot of long term poverty experienced by our brothers and sisters. In order to survive, most working-class families have substituted instant noodles for rice as their staple diet or worse crunching a three meal a day regimen to merely two,” said Joselito Ustarez, Executive Vice-President of the KMU.

"In many depressed neighborhood, pagpag (food taken from garbage) has become acceptable. In the provinces, many school children drop-out from school and work to scratch a living. Poverty has pushed our fellow Filipinos to living like animals and their basic human rights are continuously being denied them by the structures in our society,” opined Ustarez.

“Every time workers ask for increase in wages because prices have become unreachable, the government tells us to do belt-tightening measures and this survey shows how Filipinos are already strangling themselves by continuous belt-tightening,” stated Ustarez.

In the face of glaring issues of worsening poverty in the country, the labor leader stressed the urgent need for a substantial wage increase. “The PhP 125 legislated across-the-board wage hike will be a substantial increase for many Filipinos and their families. We urge our workers to petition their representatives in Congress to support the soon-to-be submitted bill seeking for a substantial wage hike through letters, petition, lobbying and collective action to press for the passage of such legislation,” ended Ustarez.