Malacañang said the government is rolling out long-term solutions, such as the conversion of rice import caps into tariffs and the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program, to help the poor.
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. made the pronouncement on Sunday following the release of the results of a Social Weather Stations’s (SWS) survey which showed that more Filipino families considered themselves poor and food-poor.
“We are putting in place long-term solutions to significantly reduce inflation and help poor Filipino families, such as pushing for rice tariffication as rice accounts for around 20 percent of the total consumption of the poor,” Roque said in a statement.
For the second quarter of 2018, results of the SWS survey showed that 48 percent of families, or an estimated 11.1 million families, considered themselves poor. This is 6 points above the 42 percent, or an estimated 9.8 million families, in March and the highest since the 50 percent recorded in March 2017.
According to the SWS, the six-point nationwide hike in self-rated poverty in the April-to-May period was due to the sharp increases in Mindanao, Metro Manila and the Visayas.
Self-rated food poverty is also up by five points to 34 percent, which means that an estimated 7.8 million families rated themselves as “food-poor.” This is five points above the 29 percent recorded in March 2018. This is also the highest since the 34 percent posted in December 2016.
The rice tariffication measure is expected to be among the priority legislative agenda to be pushed by President Duterte on his third State of the Nation Address today.
Economic managers are keen on removing the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice to tame inflation, which has accelerated in recent months due to the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion.
The government expects the increase in rice supply—with the scrapping of the QR—to cut the price of the staple by P7 per kilogram.
Aside from providing jobs, Roque said the implementation of infrastructure projects under the “BBB” program will also help ease inflation as it will lower the cost of transporting food and other goods.
Roque noted that weather-related delays in the distribution of cheap imports caused families to feel the pinch of higher food prices during the survey period.
He said rice inflation consistently picked up, from 1 percent in January to 4.7 percent in June this year. Average inflation also accelerated to 5.2 percent in June, from 4.6 percent in May.
The June inflation rate was above government and market expectations.
Roque also said the timing of the survey, which was conducted from June 27 to 30 must also be considered as a factor behind the results.
“The government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, had distributed unconditional cash transfers to around 3.8 million of the 10 million total beneficiaries at the time of the survey, with distribution ramping up quickly subsequently, while the Department of Transportation’s Pantawid Pasada Program for jeepney operators with valid franchises started this July,” he said.