IN THE recent City-Wide Social Survey (CWSS)-Series 14, Dabawenyos who consider themselves not poor have increased compared to previous CWS surveys.
The CWS survey by the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU)-University Research Council Social Research, Training, and Development Office has released the results for the CWSS 14.
Based on the survey's result, only 10.6 percent of the respondents consider themselves on the borderline of being poor and not poor which is a decrease from the previous CWSS 10 To 12 results which range from 11.1 percent to 16.7 percent.
Also, there was a significant increase in the number of people who regard themselves as not poor with 2.9 percent from 1.1 percent result from CWS13.
Upon cross-tabulation for the perceived poverty status, it can be seen that the smallest proportion of individuals who view themselves as poor comes from District 1 with 14.3 percent while the highest percentage is in District 3 with 20.5 percent.
Conversely, the highest number of people who do not consider themselves poor is found in Districts 1 and 2, while most of the respondents coming from the three districts consider themselves as being on the borderline.
"If we plot the trend line from CWSS 1 to the present self-rated not poor families, the number for this rank CWSS is above the trend line, this means that the number of those families who think of themselves as not poor is higher than the number that we have projected," Dr. Arib said.
Additionally, the survey also questioned 67 families who consider themselves poor on what is their lowest household expenses per month and that is P12,806.56 while for those who regard themselves as not poor is P15,062.25.
The survey also shows that the income needed in order for poor families to no longer consider themselves poor is P26, 928.33 on average.
While on the question on whether the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening for the past six months, 48.9 percent believe that it is indeed widening while 45.2 percent think that it is the local government unit (LGU) of Davao's job to close the gap between the two.
On the other hand, a noticeable 32.7 percent think that their quality of life is better now than before while 51.0 percent believe that it is still the same.
It can also be noticed that most of the Dabawenyos are optimistic since 47.0 percent believe that their quality of life will be better in Davao City.
Spearheaded by University Research Council Chairperson Dr. Lourdesita S. Chan, Center for Business Research and Extension (CBRE) Director Cleofe A. Arib, Political Science and History Department Social Science Cluster Chairperson Mary Donna Grace J. Cuenca, and Social Research Training and Development Office (SRTDO) Director Dr. Christine S. Diaz, they presented the results of CWSS14 last July 11, which was administered by the SRTDO on May 19-23, 2023.
The survey was conducted on 630 adults coming from three districts and 11 sub-districts.
In District 1, covered are the Poblacion and Talomo while for District 2 are Agdao, Buhangin, Bunawan, and Paquibato.
Meanwhile, for District 3, there are Baguio, Calinan, Marilog, Toril, and Tugbok. The personnel and staff made sure that the number of respondents was evenly distributed to each district to ensure data integrity.
One of the areas of interest in the survey is 'self-rated poverty'.
