Inflation still Filipinos’ top concern – Pulse Asia

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The rising prices of basic commodities remains the most urgent national concern, with six in 10 or 63 percent of Filipinos saying it is an issue that the Marcos administration must address, according to a Pulse Asia survey conducted from June 19 to 23.

The administration’s approval rating on controlling inflation improved by 6 percentage points, from 25 percent in March to 31 percent in June, but its performance on addressing the issue still received a negative net approval rating of -6, the lowest among the 13 concerns rated in the survey.

Across classes, regions

Inflation, which measures the increase in the prices of food, clothing, housing, electricity, transportation and other essential goods and services, eased for the fifth consecutive month in June to 5.4 percent. It was also the lowest in 13 months, bringing the average inflation rate in the first semester of the year to 7.2 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Controlling price hikes was a concern of the majority of respondents across all geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, according to Pulse Asia in its Ulat Sa Bayan (Report to the Nation) released on Tuesday.

It was cited by 71 percent of the respondents in Metro Manila, 68 percent in Mindanao, 65 percent in Visayas, and 56 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila.

Corruption

Across the Classes ABC, 67 percent deemed inflation as an urgent national concern, while 63 percent among Class E and 62 percent among Class D shared this view.

Pulse Asia interviewed 1,200 adult respondents nationwide and used a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.8 percentage points.

Aside from inflation, increasing workers’ pay was considered a major concern by 44 percent of Filipinos, while about a third gave that importance to creating more jobs (31 percent) and reducing poverty (30 percent).

One in four respondents (25 percent) said fighting graft and corruption in government was an urgent concern.

Sixteen percent said the same about enforcing the rule of law, an increase from the 9 percent recorded in the last survey.

Respondents were least concerned about dealing with terroristic threats (4 percent) and protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (4 percent).

Other issues apart from inflation

Also in the June poll, Pulse Asia also asked the respondents to rate the Marcos administration’s performance on the other issues.

The administration got majority approval ratings on most of the issues, with the highest (76 percent) on protecting OFWs, followed by calamity response (73 percent) and peace and order (67 percent).

Between March and June, the government’s approval rating improved the most in the area of job creation (from 45 percent to 53 percent) and wage increase (from 44 percent to 52 percent).

—Inquirer Research INQ