MANILA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Hunger incidence in the Philippines is rising, with around 3.9 million Filipino families claiming to have experienced hunger in the first quarter, according to the latest survey conducted by pollster Social Weather Station (SWS).
The SWS reported Wednesday that a survey conducted from March 19 to 22 revealed that 3.9 million families or 19.2 percent of Filipino families experienced hunger. This was higher than 16.3 percent recorded last December.
The SWS survey also showed more people experienced moderate hunger (15.6 percent) than in December (12.7 percent) while those who experienced severe hunger remained the same at 3.6 percent.
SWS said those who experienced moderate hunger went hungry at least once or a few times during the past three months while those who suffered severe hunger experienced hunger often or always during the past three months.
The survey also showed more people from Mindanao (29.2 percent) experiencing hunger followed by those from the National Capital Region (21.7 percent), the Visayas (15 percent) and the rest of Luzon (14.7 percent).
There was also an increase in the number of people who claimed to be food-poor (33.1 percent) and those who are self-rated poor ( 25.5 percent), up from 25.8 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the survey results were volatile and not the sole benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of the government's anti-poverty program.
Valte said the government has implemented several programs meant to uplift the poor such as the conditional cash transfer program and the livelihood and training programs for those who want to start small businesses.
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