Malacanang is optimistic that poverty conditions in the country have already improved as opposed to the recently-released data from the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB).
In a Philippine Star report, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda emphasized that the data was for the 2012 first semester state of poverty in the Philippines. He is confident that the data for the second half of 2012 as well as the first quarter of 2013 is already better. Lacierda noted though that there is still a long way to go in the process of eradicating poverty.
