MANILA - The Marcos administration sees a "more urgent" need to focus on poverty reduction efforts following results of a survey which showed that around 12.2 million Filipino families felt "poor" in the second quarter of the year. According to the latest Social Weather Stations Survey (SWS) conducted from June 26-29, 2022, the percentage of Filipino families who considered themselves poor increased to 12.2 million in the second quarter of 2022 from 10.9 million during the first quarter this year. Of the estimated 12.2 million self-rated poor families in June 2022, some 2.2 million were considered "newly poor", 1.6 million were "usually poor", and 8.4 million were "always poor." Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles cited the promise of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 25 to bring down the poverty to 9 percent or single-digit poverty rate by 2028. "Ayon doon sa SONA ng ating Pangulo, mayroon tayong puntirya that by 2028 ma-reduce natin to single digit ang ating poverty levels, so tuluy-tuloy pa rin iyon (According to our President's SONA, we have a goal that by 2028, we can reduce our poverty levels to single digit, so that is still ongoing)," she said in a Palace press briefing. Cruz-Angeles said the SWS survey results will push the government to work harder to lift more Filipinos out of poverty. "This makes the matter more urgent at mas malupit nating tututukan ang pagbuwag ng poverty levels dito sa Pilipinas. So, at least ma-diminish natin to single digit levels (and we will strongly focus on the eradication of poverty levels here in the Philippines. So, at least we can reduce it to single digit levels)," she said. She added that Marcos, who is also concurrent Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, will see to it that efforts to push for agricultural and economic development will lead to higher job creation and growth. "Ating pagpapalakas ng agrikultura, pagpapalakas ng ekonomiya natin - lahat po iyon ay makakatulong para mapuntirya natin itong levels ng poverty dito sa Pilipinas (Strengthening of agriculture, strengthening of our economy - all of these will help us to focus on these levels of poverty here in the Philippines)," she said. (PNA) }