By Genalyn Kabiling The administration will continue to "hustle" to alleviate families from poverty and hunger, Malacañang said even as it welcomed the drop in the self-rated hunger rate based on a recent survey. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo (OPS / MANILA BULLETIN) Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government would not rest on its laurels and instead sustain programs to improve the living conditions of Filipinos. "Despite this, as well as the countless accomplishments it has attained, this Administration has never had an attitude to laze away or rest on its laurels," he said. "The Chief Executive, together with his official family and their work forces, will therefore continue to hustle, not only to uplift more Filipino families out of the quagmire of indigence and hunger but also, to prevent our countrymen from falling or reverting back to poverty by addressing its very root causes," he added. A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey recently showed that 9.1 percent or an estimated 2.3 million families went hungry due to lack of food at least once in the third quarter. The result of the September survey was lower compared to 10 percent or 2.5 million families recorded in June 2019. Panelo said the Office of the President has welcomed the results of the survey that indicated the decrease. He said this was among the reasons the President continues to enjoy high public trust and approval rating. "These results are consistent with the earlier survey finding by the same independent pollster which showed a decrease among Filipino families who consider themselves as 'mahirap,'" he said. "The improvement experienced by survey participants in relation to their socieconomic status, which was recently affirmed by the World Bank when the prestigious financial institution mentioned poverty incidence in the Philippines dropping from 24.5% in 2016 to 21.9% in 2018, is among the reasons why President Rodrigo Roa Duterte continues to win the satisfaction, approval and trust of the Filipino people," he added.