FACT CHECK: Willie Revillame wrongly claims 94% to 97% of Filipinos are poor

Justifying his bid for a seat in the Senate in the 2025 elections, television host Willie Revillame said that 94% to 97% of Filipinos are poor. This is false.

STATEMENT

In an Oct. 8 interview on One News’ The Big Story, anchor Shawn Yao asked Revillame about the current state of Philippine politics and its trajectory.

The senatorial aspirant, who filed his certificate of candidacy earlier that day, replied:

“Walang unity, eh; kanya-kanya, eh. Personal ang interest. If you’re a good public servant, dapat hindi ‘yan pang-personal na ano ang gusto mo. How many percent ang mahihirap sa Pilipinas? It’s about 97%, 94%, ‘di ba?”

(There’s no unity; to each his own. All for personal Interests. If you’re a good public servant, it should not be about personal interests. How many percent of Filipinos are poor? It’s about 97%, 94%, right?)

Source: One PH, TBS | What made Willie Revillame decide to run for senator in the 2025 election?, Oct. 8, 2024, watch from 06:04 to 06:23

FACT

About 17.54 million or 15.5% of Filipinos were poor in 2023, based on the latest poverty data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This puts the national poverty incidence among families at 10.9%, which is equivalent to 2.99 million Filipino families without enough income to meet their basic food and non-food needs.

Poverty incidence is the proportion of Filipino families whose income is insufficient to meet the minimum basic food and non-food needs.

To meet these needs, a Filipino family would need to earn at least P13,873 per month.

BACKSTORY

In July, Revillame mulled over entering politics, pointing out the “lack of unity” in government that he found frustrating. Two months later, the TV host said he was “ready” to enter politics and run for senator in the 2025 midterm elections.

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(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)