Atty. Joey Lina
Even before the pandemic struck, it certainly was appalling how many Filipinos go hungry every day, how those living in extreme poverty lacked the means not only to feed themselves but also how to afford the other basic necessities in life.
With the pandemic raging, hunger incidence became record high. Severe hunger was at 8.7 percent last September when nine out of every hundred Filipinos have gone hungry “often or always” in the previous three months, according to a bleak report of the Social Weather Stations.
The SWS survey showed the incidence of severe hunger surged beyond the previous peak of six percent recorded in March 2001. It also revealed that 30.7 percent, or one in every three Filipinos, experienced hunger at least once in three months, beating the previous high of 23.8 percent reported in March 2012.