Saturday-Friday | November 7 - 13, 2020
GLOBAL NEWS
4 of 5 Pinoys believe quality of life worsened in past 12 months — SWS MANILA (Mabuhay) — Four out of five adult Filipinos, or 82%, believe their quality of life worsened compared to a year ago, while only 6% believe it got better, according to results of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Meanwhile, 11% believe quality of life was the same from a year ago, the SWS said. "The resulting Net Gainers score in September 2020 is -76 (% Gainers minus % Losers) which is considered by SWS as catastrophic (-50 and below)," the SWS said. "Losers," according to SWS, refers to those believe the quality of life got worse from a year ago while "gainers" refers to those believe it was better. The survey, conducted from September 17 to 20, also revealed that the only other time the net gainers score reached catastrophic level was during rice and oil price hikes in June 2008. Further, the -76% net gainers rating now is worse than the -72% in July and just slightly better than the -78% rating posted in May. Based on SWS standards, a net gainers score lower than -50% is considered catastrophic. The lowest net gainers score of -80% was registered in the Visayas, followed by -76% in the National Capital Region. The biggest drop of net gainers, compared with July figures, was recorded in Mindanao, which posted a nine-point drop, followed by Visayas (five points), Metro Manila (four points) and Balance Luzon (one point).
The worst net gainers score of -84% was recorded among those hungry families, while those non-hungry families’ net gainers score reached -72%. In addition, those who experienced severe (often and always) and moderate hunger (only once and a few times) hunger both tallied a net gainers score of-84%. The catastrophe is also the worst for those who are non-college graduates. Net gainers score among those who had some junior high school education is the lowest at -83%, followed by college graduates at -76%. Those who did not finish elementary school posted a net gainers rating of -72, while college graduates had the highest net gainers score but still at a catastrophic level at -64%. Moreover, the net gainers score
among those with a job and the jobless is almost just the same. Net gainers rating among those with a job is at -73%, just slightly ahead of those who never had a job at -77%. Net gainers among those who do not have a job at present but used to have one is at -79%. The SWS poll was a probability-based survey conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of 1,249 adult Filipinos aged 18 years old and above nationwide. Of this number, 309 in Metro Manila, 328 in Balance Luzon, 300 in the Visayas, and 312 in Mindanao. The sampling error margin is ±3% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, ±5% for Balance Luzon, ±6% for the Visayas, and ±6% for Mindanao. (MNS)
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Joma Sison denies linking orgs as legal fronts of CPP, says military ‘spliced’ his video MANILA (Mabuhay) — Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison on Wednesday strongly denied that he had identified some progressive groups as legal fronts of the CPP. In a television interview, Sison accused the military of "splicing" the video to make it appear that he redtagged some groups including Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, League of Filipino Students and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers. "I spoke in Belgium, in Brussels in 1988 and the Philippine military was able to get hold of the video. They spliced the video to make it appear that I said that the legal democratic organizations are fronts in the sense that they are façades. I never used that kind of language," Sison said. "As a matter of fact, I differentiated the legal forces of the national democratic movement from the armed revolutionary movement. It's stupid of the military to splice this. I used to call them military morons but I call them idiots," Sison added. The military has since denied the red-tagging accusations against them, insisting that it was Sison who had named these al-
leged legal fronts. In the same interview, the Netherlands-based communist leader also branded National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and Southern Luzon Command chief Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. as liars, adding that the Philippine military was supposedly the reason for the bankruptcy of the government. "Parlade and the other military psywar experts up to the level of Esperon are all liars. You know they get a lot of public money. As a matter of fact this military overspending is a major cause of the bankruptcy of the Philippine government," Sison said. He said government forces are utilizing the money for fake surrenders, witnesses, encounters and projects. Sison added that the military is engaged in extortion activities by "intimidating" the public. Sison also denied the allegation of confessed former communist rebel Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz that he is benefiting from the alleged extortion activities of the movement. He noted that he has been dependent on the assistance of his relatives and friends. "I don't have to depend on funds that belong to the revolutionary government," Sison said. (MNS)
