Fifty-two percent or about 9.4 million Filipino families consider themselves poor as Filipinos continue to lower their living standards due to higher inflation, results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Monday.

SWS said the new self-rated poverty rate is seven points down from 59 percent or an estimated 10.6 million families in the second quarter, and just six points above the previous low of 46 percent or an estimated 8.1 million families in December 2007.

The survey, conducted last September 24 to 27, revealed that 29 percent of Filipino families put themselves on the Borderline, and 19 percent consider themselves as Hindi Mahirap or Not Poor.

The September 2008 survey also found that 38 percent of Filipino families or an estimated 6.9 million families consider themselves as Food-Poor, 37 percent put themselves on the Food-Borderline, and 25 percent consider themselves as Not Food-Poor.

SWS said the decline in self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty occurred in the context of a lowering of families' living standards or belt-tightening measures of Filipinos.

It said the self-rated poverty threshold, or the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general, has remained at P10,000 in Metro Manila even though it had already reached as much as P15,000 several times in the past. For those in Balance Luzon, the median poverty threshold in September is P6,000, though it had already been at P10,000 before.

The median poverty thresholds of poor households dwindled to only P5,000 in both the Visayas and Mindanao, but had also already reached P10,000 before for both areas.

The median food-poverty thresholds for poor households in September 2008 are P6,000 in Metro Manila, P4,000 in Balance Luzon, P3,250 in the Visayas, and only P2,500 in Mindanao. These levels had already been reached several years ago

Measurement of belt-tightening

SWS said the median poverty threshold in Metro Manila is still P10,000 as in 2000, even though the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen there by about 58 percent since.

The NCR median poverty threshold of P10,000 per month for September 2008 is equivalent to only P6,341 in base year 2000 purchasing power, after deflation by the CPI. The deflated poverty threshold for NCR of below P7,000 per month is a throw-back to living standards of twenty years ago

In four SWS surveys in 2000, the base year of the CPI, the median SWS poverty threshold for NCR was already P10,000 per month, equivalent to P15,770 per month at the September 2008 cost of living, given the CPI of 157.7. The difference of P15,770 – P 10,000 = P5,770 between the thresholds of 2000 and September 2008 measures the extent of belt-tightening that took place.

On the other hand, median food poverty threshold of P6,000 in Metro Manila is equivalent to only P4,043 in base year 2000 purchasing power for food.

The median food poverty threshold in December 2000 was P6,000 for Metro Manila. It is equivalent to P8,904 per month at the September 2008 cost of food, given the latest CPI of 148.4 for food items. The difference of P8,904 – P6,000 = P2,904 between the food thresholds of 2000 and September 2008 is the extent of belt-tightening made by food-poor Metro Manila households.

The SWS survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao, and ±4% for Balance Luzon).