30% of Pinoys say lives improved in last 12 months

MANILA, Philippines – Thirty percent of Filipinos said their lives have improved in the last year of the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey – conducted from June 24 to 27 and published on Friday in BusinessWorld – also showed that 21 percent of the respondents said their lives worsened in the last 12 months, while the remaining 49 percent either did not respond or said the condition of their lives remained the same.

The latest survey figures resulted in a “high” +9 net gainers score, six points higher than the previous +3 score in a similar survey conducted in April.

SWS said the +9 score in last month’s survey is only the eighth time that the net figures were on the positive scale since it began conducting such surveys in 1984.

It was two points below the record-high +11 in March 1987 during the time of former president Corazon Aquino.

The net gainers score has been on the positive scale since March 2015, coinciding with the last year in office of the second Aquino administration.

Comparing it with the survey results in April, the latest data showed that net gainers significantly increased in Metro Manila (+8 to +15) and Mindanao (-12 to +10). It slightly increased in the Visayas (+5 to +9) and was flat in balance Luzon (+7).

In terms of socio-economic class, the net gainers score decreased in Class ABC (+28 to +18), but increased in Class D (+4 to +9) and E (-6 to +6).

The survey was conducted days before President Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30.

It had 1,200 respondents and a net error margin of plus or minus three percent.

The same survey also showed a record-high number of Filipinos expecting better lives and a better economy in the next 12 months.

Results showed that 49 percent of Filipinos expect their quality of lives to get better against three percent who expect it to get worse, yielding a +46 net personal optimism rating.