Pulse Asia: Inflation remains top concern of Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines — Controlling the spiraling cost of goods remains the leading national concern among Filipinos, the latest Pulse Asia survey suggests.

According to its latest Ulat ng Bayan, one out of every two Filipinos (50 percent) considers the need to control the rise in prices of goods as the national concern that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte should address immediately.

There is a 13-percentage point rise in the percentage of Filipinos who consider the need to control inflation an urgent national concern from the same period last year at 37 percent.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in September, the country’s inflation rate may exceed 3.4 percent this year due to the impact of higher oil prices as well as the wage hike in Metro Manila.

Last July, the BSP believed inflation had already reached its peak at 3.4 percent in March and April and slowed down to 2.7 percent in May and June before inching up to 2.8 percent in July, and 3.1 percent in August.

READ: Inflation could hit new high this year

Increasing wages (42 percent), fighting criminality (36 percent), creating more jobs (32 percent), addressing corruption in the government (28 percent) and reducing poverty (28 percent) comprise the six most mentioned national concerns.

The national concerns of utmost importance which are most often identified first by Filipinos are inflation (20 percent), workers’ pay (17 percent) and criminality (16 percent).

While most of those in Visayas, Mindanao and the rest of Luzon consider the need to control cost of goods as their most urgent need, Metro Manila residents deem workers’ pay as their topmost concern.

The study revealed that Filipinos are least concerned about environmental degradation (14 percent), reducing the amount of taxes paid b citizens (nine percent), controlling rapid population growth (eight percent), protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (six percent), preparing to successfully deal with terrorism (five percent), defending national territorial integrity (four percent) and amending the Constitution (two percent).

Poor state of roads

The poor state of roads or road infrastructure topped local concerns that the government should immediately address.

Almost 16 percent of the 1,200 respondents cited the poor state of roads as their top local concern, followed by flooding (11.2 percent) and illegal drugs (10.2 percent).

These three issues were the most mentioned across all social classes.

Metro Manila residents cited illegal drugs as their most urgent local concern (18.3 percent). In the Visayas and Mindanao, road infrastructure is the leading local issue among the residents at 28.5 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively.

Government’s handling of issues

Most Filipinos continue to express appreciation for the national administration’s handling of 10 of the 12 issues on which it was performance-rated in September 2017. 

These areas include responding to those affected by calamities, fighting criminality, protecting the welfare of OFWs, fighting corruption, protecting the environment, enforcing the rule of law, promoting peace, defending national territorial integrity, creating more jobs and increasing workers’ pay. 

Poverty reduction (49 percent) and inflation (45 percent) were the two issues in which the government failed to achieve a majority approval score.

For the period of June to September 2017, there was a seven-percentage point decline in the people’s level of appreciation for the administration’s efforts to enforce the law equally to all citizens.

The latest Ulat ng Bayan survey was conducted from September 24 to 30 using face-to-face interviews.

READ: Pulse Asia: Duterte retains 'big majority' approval, trust ratings

In a separate Pulse Asia survey, President Rodrigo Duterte has retained his big majority approval and trust ratings despite public outrage over alleged police abuse in his brutal drug war and allegations of hidden wealth.

Eighty percent of respondents have big trust, six percent have small trust in Duterte while 14 percent were undecided.

However, in the September 23 to 27 survey of polling firm Social Weather Stations, Duterte suffered an 18-point plunge in his net satisfaction rating for the third quarter of this year. 

READ: Duterte sees 18-point drop in satisfaction rating | SWS president: Duterte ratings dip normal but faster than average