Gov’t still tops in helping Pinoy families — SWS

MANILA, Philippines -  The government remains the top source of assistance for Filipino families, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) December 2016 poll.

The non-commissioned survey, taken from Dec. 3 to 6, asked 1,500 adults nationwide about the source of help they received in the past three months.

Almost half of respondents or 46 percent mentioned government, followed by relatives at 41 percent, friends at 16 percent, private persons at eight percent, private companies at five percent, non-government organizations or NGOs at two percent and religious organizations at one percent.

The 46 percent assisted by the government were estimated at 4.8 million, followed by beneficiaries of relatives at 4.3 million, of friends at 1.7 million, private persons at 856,000, private companies at 543,000; NGOs at 250,000 and religious organizations at 146,000.

The survey found that the government was the top source of help among households in terms of support for schooling or training (87 percent), any kind of service (55 percent) and food (51 percent).

“Relatives, on the other hand, were their top sources of help for non-food items and money/loans at 71 percent and 41 percent, respectively,” it added.

Relatives and government were the most common sources of help among households that were given money gifts, 53 percent and 51 percent, respectively.

Friends, on the other hand, were the top sources of help among households that were given jobs (51 percent).

The survey also found 47 percent or an estimated 10.5 million households who received assistance in the last quarter of 2016, most commonly in the form of money and “most commonly from government.”

On the other hand, 53 percent or 12 million households reported not having received any kind of help in the past three months.

“In the past, the proportion of households receiving any form of help ranged from as low as 12 percent in September 2002 to as high as 52 percent in June 2014 and March 2015,” the SWS said.

The latest figure of 47 percent was three points above the 44 percent in December 2015.

This was also above the 30 to 40 percent range from 2004 to 2011 and within the 44-55 percent range from 2012 to 2016.

The most common form of assistance was found to be money that was given at 51 percent, followed by food at 38 percent, money that was lent at 24 percent, support for schooling or training at eight percent, non-food items at four percent, jobs at four percent and any kind of service at one percent.

“Money gifts were typically the most common form of help, having topped the list in 18 out of the 21 surveys since 2001, followed by money loans and food,” the SWS said.

“Food topped the list only three times: 57 percent in December 2009, 35 percent in June 2008 and 33 percent in September 2001 when it tied with money-loans.

“For only the fifth time out of the 21 surveys since 2001, the government was the most common source of help received by households in the past three months,” it added.

Most of the time such help came from relatives.

Results of the latest SWS poll on the Filipino families’ sources of assistance were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.