MORE than half or 59% of families in the newly established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) think they are poor, compared with 53% in Mindanao and 42% for the entire country, according to the latest poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

“The rest of Mindanao typically also fares poorly on the human development index,” SWS said in a statement, adding that five other five regions join the Bangsamoro in being among the seven poorest regions in the country.

Self-rated poverty in the rest of Mindanao, for which SWS doubled its sample to 600 in the September poll, is closer to the Bangsamoro than to the country as a whole, it added.

Bangsamoro respondents were much more likely to be in informal employment — 62% of respondents were self-employed but not in a formally registered job compared with 34% nationwide and 36% in Mindanao areas outside Bangsamoro.

Bangsamoro looks much the same as the rest of the country as far as changes in personal quality of life, SWS said.

As has been the case since late 2014, those who feel their lives improved — termed by SWS as gainers — in the past 12 months outnumbered those who feel their lives had worsened — termed as losers — and this is true of Bangsamoro areas.

Bangsamoro respondents were more satisfied with the performance of the National Government at an “excellent” +81 net satisfaction, compared with the “very good” overall Philippine net satisfaction of +67, SWS said.

Filipinos in Bangsamoro also gave President Rodrigo R. Duterte an “excellent” net performance rating of +90 compared with the national rating of +65 and Mindanao score of +74, according to the September poll.

SWS interviewed 1,800 adults for the poll, which had an error margin of ±2 points. — NPA

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