Inflation, poor infrastructure are Pinoys’ most urgent issues
Inflation and poor road infrastructure are the most urgent national and local issues, respectively, for five out of 10 Filipinos, according to a poll by Pulse Asia.
The Ulat ng Bayan poll of 1,200 respondents nationwide, done from Sept. 24 to 30, also showed that the other urgent national concerns include increasing workers’ pay (42 percent) and fighting criminality (36 percent).
In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the administration was on the right track when it made fighting criminality and corruption its priorities.
“Filipinos consider these two issues as among their most urgent national concerns, and we thank our people for recognizing the efforts of the current government in delivering on this front,” Abella said in a statement.
“The survey results indeed underscore (that) the President’s promise of genuine change to have safe neighborhoods and peaceful communities under a trustworthy government has been felt by people on the ground,” he added.
Abella said the Palace hoped this would translate to increased investments and better economic prospects for the nation, so that urgent concerns such a reducing poverty, controlling inflation, creating jobs, improving the pay of workers could be addressed.
Majority approval ratings
Results of the survey released on Friday also indicated that the Duterte administration scored majority approval ratings ranging from 58 percent to 78 percent, in handling most of 12 selected national issues.
It got 78 percent on fighting criminality and responding to the needs of those affected by calamities, and 70 percent in fighting corruption. Both ratings however showed six-point declines which Pulse Asia said was not considered significant because of the survey’s overall margin of error of plus or negative 3 percentage points.
The administration also got a 67 percent approval rating in enforcing the rule of law equally on all citizens, that again represented a seven-point decline from previous results.
Malacañang did not comment on the decrease.
Concern over inflation was the major sentiment among respondents in the Visayas and Mindanao (both 51 percent), and the rest of Luzon (52 percent).
Local concerns
Metro Manila respondents meanwhile registered similar percentages of concern when it comes to workers’ salary (45 percent), inflation (38 percent), jobs (36 percent) and criminality (34 percent).
Among Class ABC, the top concerns were inflation (50 percent), workers’ pay (37 percent), and criminality (36 percent).
Class D respondents considered inflation and workers’ pay their top concerns at 48 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Majority of those in Class E were also concerned about inflation (56 percent).
When it comes to local issues, 15.9 percent of the respondents cited poor or insufficient roads as the most urgent concern, followed by flooding and clogged drainage (11.2 percent) and illegal drug use and addiction (10.2 percent).
Metro Manilans were most concerned about illegal drugs (18.3 percent), while respondents in the Visayas and Mindanao cited road infrastructure as their most urgent concern at 28.5 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively. Those in the rest of Luzon (30 percent) did not cite any local urgent concern.
Among Class ABC, road infrastructure was also considered the most urgent local concern (16.2 percent), although a similar percentage (16.3) did not mention any.
The same issue was cited as the most urgent local concern among Class D (14.6 percent) and Class E (20.9 percent).
