MALACAÑANG yesterday hailed the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing the number of Filipinos who consider themselves poor hit a new record low in the first quarter of 2019.
The results of the March 2019 survey showed a record low of 38 percent or about 9.5 million Filipino families that consider themselves poor, down by 12 percent from December 2018’s 50 percent and 4 percent from September 2016’s 42 percent, which was then the previous record.
“The Duterte administration continues to break barriers,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
“This, notwithstanding the divisive and destructive political propaganda war waged by the President’s critics and detractors during the campaign period for the midterm elections when the survey was conducted.”
Panelo thanked the President’s economic managers, members of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster, social welfare officers, and barangay health workers “for tirelessly making a positive impact on the socioeconomic lives of our countrymen.”
He said the poverty reduction efforts of the Duterte administration remained on track.
“We aim to reduce poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 14 percent in 2022, which is equivalent to lifting about 6 million Filipinos out of poverty by the end of the President’s term. And we will grind daily to reach this goal,” Panelo said.
