A ranking congresswoman hailed President Marcos' ongoing push to address hunger and poverty, as new survey results showed fewer Filipinos now consider themselves poor even as more households reported experiencing involuntary hunger in the last quarter of 2025.

Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro pointed to the Marcos administration’s whole-of-government effort, which he said had become more focused and deliberate amid persistent economic pressures.

“I totally commend the efforts of the government agencies, through the leadership of the President, in responding to several aspects that really cause the poverty and the hunger in the Philippines,” Luistro, chairman of the House Committee on Justice, said during a news forum Saturday, Jan. 24.

“I think everybody is very much conscious now after we have identified all these factors that really caused these poverty and hunger,” Luistro added.

“Yung ating Department of Agriculture (DA) is very much responsive to their specific concern. And so as the other agencies, especially those which concern poverty alleviation, kasama po diyan ang DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), ang DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), let us include TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) also in promoting the employability ng ating mga kababayan,” she said.

(Our DA is highly responsive to their specific concern. Likewise, other agencies—especially those focused on poverty alleviation—such as the DSWD, the DOLE, and also TESDA in promoting the employability of our fellow citizens.)

She gave these remarks following the results of a survey, which reported that self-rated poverty dropped to 37 percent in a Dec. 3 to 11 survey, down from 54 percent in September 2025.

However, involuntary hunger rose to 18 percent from 11 percent over the same period.

“Perhaps, ituloy lang natin (let's continue it). Let us not stop. These challenges that include weather disturbances, as they have said, will never be gone. This will always be with us. Ang importante ay ang resilience ng Philippine government in pushing for these interventions so as to lower the poverty and hunger level that Filipinos are experiencing right now,” Luistro said.

Asked if the survey results mirrored what Filipinos felt about the political situation during the last quarter of 2025, Luistro disagreed.

“I don’t think it is political because it is personal di ba (right)? Kasi (It's) self-rated poverty. You are assessing how you feel about the situation of poverty. And to me ha, I am not an expert on research, but I am more inclined to believe on self-rated poverty than poverty in the entire nation,” she said.

“And as far as the self-poverty rating is concerned, I think no one can best assess how I felt for the last quarter than myself. Ako lang ang pwedeng magsabi (Only I can say) how I felt for the last or for the current quarter. And I think this applies also with the rest of us,” noted the Batangueña.