Pulse Asia Survey: Poor becoming desperate

[dawn runner]

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• 21% believe hopeless poor likely to turn to crime, up from 15%
• 12% believe hopeless poor support overthrow of gov’t, up from 5%

Survey says the poor becoming desperate

Posted 11:43pm (Mla time) May 03, 2005
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the May 4, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


FOR MANY Filipinos, these are desperate times that require desperate measures.

More people now think that the poor will turn to stealing or support efforts to overthrow the government to get out of poverty, according to a private polling firm.

In a survey conducted in March, Pulse Asia Inc. also found that fewer Filipinos were thinking that the "hopeless poor" would likely take positive measures like looking for jobs in other countries or resorting to prayer.

Pulse Asia said yesterday that about a fifth (21 percent) of those surveyed said that a poor person was likely to steal or engage in an illegal livelihood, while a 10th (12 percent) said that person would support those seeking to oust the government.

This represented a change of perception since October 2004 when 16 percent of those surveyed thought the poor were likely to steal and only 5 percent said the poor would join efforts to topple the government, according to Ana Maria L. Tabunda, Pulse Asia executive director.

In a statement, Tabunda said 26 percent of those surveyed in March thought the poor would look for jobs in other countries, down from 29 percent last October.

Those who said the poor would pray and hope that God would help them also went down, from 35 percent last October to 25 percent in March.

Significant increase

Significantly, the perception that the "hopeless poor" were likely to support groups that seek to overthrow or change the government increased by 14 points among those in Class E.

"The spread in the perception that the poor are likely to resort to criminal or subversive activities could be due to observation or a sense of increasing crime and lawlessness in the respondents' localities," Tabunda said.

She said a majority of the poor would still resort to positive measures such as looking for work abroad and praying when there seemed to be no hope of escaping poverty.

"But a third of them think that the poor in such a situation will engage in illegal livelihood activities or support subversive activities," Tabunda said.

Family source of hope

Filipinos across all economic classes tend to turn primarily to the family rather than the government as a source of hope, according to Tabunda.

She said Filipinos would consider the condition of the poor hopeless when not even one member of the family had a job (34 percent), when the family was not able to eat regularly or adequately (24 percent), or when the children of the poor could not finish their studies (23 percent).

The percentage of Filipinos citing inadequate food for the family as an indication that the poor had no hope of escaping poverty rose 7 percentage points since October.

Pulse Asia said those in Mindanao and those belonging to the D and E economic classes registered a big increase, from 21 percent to 31 percent, from 14 percent to 28 percent and from 17 percent to 29 percent, respectively.

Only 16 percent of the respondents said there was hope for the poor if the government did not respond to the needs and problems of the poor.

Different pattern

Pulse Asia observed a different pattern in October 2004 when government responsiveness was deemed by 34 percent of the respondents to be a source of hope for the poor to escape poverty.

There had since been significant declines in this view among those in Luzon and the Visayas and among the D and E classes.

"It will be recalled that this change in perception was accompanied by a significant decline in approval for the national administration's poverty reduction efforts. The lack of jobs and the unsuccessful attempts of the national administration to reduce inflation may have contributed to the sense that government cannot help escape poverty," Tabunda said.

Jobs

Still, those surveyed thought that if government was to solve the problem of poverty, it must ensure the availability of jobs (38 percent) and of adequate supply of food at affordable prices (25 percent).

Using a multistage probability sampling, the survey covered 1,200 respondents nationwide and had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Field interviews were conducted from Oct. 22 to Nov. 6, 2004, for the first survey and from March 3 to 16 for the second stage. Alcuin Papa

Wa na bay. Desperado na ang mga tawo. Usa nako. nailad sa saad sa ka bright kuno ug sa ekonomista sa usa ka tawo.

[dawn runner]

THE UNTOUCHABLES --- Nakasaad na lahat sa placards at posters na hawak ng mga militanteng grupong ito ang kanilang akusasyon laban kina First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, presidential son at Congressman Mikey Arroyo at presidential brother-in-law Iggy Arroyo, nang mag-rally sa harapan ng opisina ng Arroyo brothers sa LTA Bldg., sa Makati City kahapon. (Rusty Roman)

[mannyamador]

The rich families that looted our country should be prosecuted quickly. These include the Marcoses and the Ejercitos. The fact that they can hold expensive parties in fancy resthouses even though they are supposedly under arrest is a mockery of our justice system.

[FK]

O.T. dili tanan Ejercitos are under arrest. You can't deny a expensive party for an old woman just because her son is in jail.

[dawn runner]

Korek ka FK. Manny, Ngano man lagi si Mike Arroyo nag stay one night sa 20 million dollar suite, wa man lagi ka moreklamo.

[dawn runner]

Palace response to the survey:

Palace on Filipino desperation: Be resilient, work harder

Posted 05:47pm (Mla time) May 04, 2005
By Joel Francis Guinto
INQ7.net

FILIPINOS can overcome poverty through their “resilience” and by simply working harder, Malacañang officials said Wednesday, after a survey showed that Filipinos are becoming more desperate as times get harder.

“The Filipino is much greater and more resilient that anyone can imagine here in the Philippines or anywhere in the world,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

“Filipinos can do [their] best under the situation to provide for their families,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference.

“We encourage Filipinos to work harder,” he added.

As if kulang pa ang kalbaryo sa mga tao. Plete hapit na moabot ug 10 pesos. Unya mao ra ni mahimo sa gobyerno?

[darkwing]

Korek ka FK. Manny, Ngano man lagi si Mike Arroyo nag stay one night sa 20 million dollar suite, wa man lagi ka moreklamo.

err, actually $20,000 to siya, and he claimed it was given for free, but even if it was given for free, it was accepted in bad taste

[shoeless_rebel]

heck! even the rich are becoming desperate!

[WAYOK@@]

d mana sila dispirado, ni samot lang katapolan.

[lalakingbisdak]

desperate sila because they dont work yet they drink a lot, gambles a lot, smokes a lot and party a lot. Remember those majong, hantak, fiestas, birthday parties, wedding parties etc etc. I dont think tika pobre ang pinas. Look at the people sige ug text text, nya naa bay pobre nga maka afford ug celfon plus text all day? ha ha.