FORTY-THREE percent of the Filipinos polled in a recent survey believe the economy will likely remain the same despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s imposition of martial law in Mindanao.
The Second Quarter Social Weather Stations survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents, and 24 percent of them believed the economy would get better while 33 percent expected it to get worse.
That resulted in a net -9 national balance of opinion that SWS classified as “Neutral.”
Across geographical regions, double-digit negative net balance of opinion scores were recorded in Balance Luzon and the Visayas at -14 and -13, respectively, and SWS classified it as “moderately unfavorable.”
In Balance Luzon, 22 percent remained positive about martial law’s effect on the economy while 36 percent thought otherwise. And in the Visayas, 24 percent expected the economy to get better while 37 percent expected the opposite.
In Mindanao, where the fighting between government forces and Islamic State-inspired extremists were ongoing, the balance of opinion was at zero with 27 percent who expected the economy to get better while 27 percent expected it to get even worse, or “exactly Neutral.”
“In the National Capital Region, meanwhile, the balance of opinion was a net -7, or 23 percent better and 29 percent worse, correctly rounded, which is still in the category of Neutral, SWS said.
The latest survey, conducted from June 23 to 26, had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for the national percentages.