The latest Social Weather Stations survey gives us a snapshot of the current situation of Filipinos under the Marcos administration.
The survey, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, found that 30 percent of the respondents said their personal quality of life worsened in the past 12 months, 28 percent said it got better, while 41 percent said it remained the same.
Those who said their quality of life worsened in the past year increased from 22 percent in a similar survey last July.
The 30 percent obtained in the latest survey was the highest since the 31 percent obtained in June 2022—the last survey under the Duterte administration. The figure is also the highest so far under the Marcos administration.
If a third of all Filipinos feel that their quality of life has worsened over the past year, this should send alarm bells ringing in the various offices in the bureaucracy concerned with the delivery of basic social services to the people.
It should also pose as a challenge for the Marcos administration to assist them turn their lives for the better, whether through food security, jobs, and health services, among others.
At least three government agencies can play a key role in improving the quality of life of Filipinos.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development is the lead agency in assisting the poor and the disadvantaged sectors.
It provides relief assistance in the form of food and nonfood items to disaster-affected communities.
It also implements the Cash-for-Work program which provides temporary employment in community efforts in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response or early recovery and rehabilitation initiatives to provide alternative source of income to families.
The agency’s Supplementary Feeding Program provides food in addition to the regular meals to children currently enrolled in the day care centers.
The Agriculture Department, on the other hand, is tasked with expanding economic opportunities in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. It is responsible for generating employment for about a third of the country’s labor force, thereby reducing poverty and inequality for three-fourths of the poor in the rural areas.
The DA envisions a food-secure and resilient Philippines with empowered and prosperous farmers and fishers.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority assists those with limited formal education to acquire technical and vocational training through its various programs administered by 57 accredited schools and 60 training centers.
It implements a pro-active matching process aimed at achieving the best job-skills fit for those who complete its training programs.
The government does not lack the resources to uplift the quality of life of one-third of the population who now find themselves in worse economic straits than before.
What is important is to exercise political will in fighting corruption that diverts public funds into private pockets and keeps the poor forever where they are.