INCREASING the workers’ take-home pay and controlling inflation remain the top concerns of most Filipinos, according to the latest Pulse Asia Survey.
But Malacañang says the government is doing all it can to address the problems hounding the country.
The survey, conducted from March 23 to 28, showed that 50 percent of the respondents believed increasing salaries was the most urgent issue while 45 percent thought it was the high rate of inflation.
The public concern about the need to increase workers’ pay and protect the welfare of Filipino workers abroad became more evident between December 2017 and March 2018, while the levels of concern about fighting corruption and enforcing the rule of law dropped during the same period.
The Duterte administration enjoys majority approval ratings on 11 of 12 selected national issues. The respondents’ assessment of the administration’s work remained essentially constant between December 2017 and March 2018.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque says that President Rodrigo Duterte wants a comfortable life for all Filipinos.
“The President also expressed his concern with regard to the latest survey, but wants to give a more comfortable life to every Filipino family,” Roque said.
The survey also revealed that the respondents were concerned with poverty reduction (35 percent) and job creation (32 percent).
Twenty-seven percent of the respondents said fighting criminality was the most urgent, 22 percent said fighting graft and corruption was the priority and another 22 percent pointed to promoting peace.
Fifteen percent of the respondents called for reducing the amount of taxes paid by Filipinos, 13 percent said protecting the welfare of Filipino workers abroad was important, and 10 percent favored enforcing the rule of law and protecting the environment.
The least concerns of Filipinos were population growth (7 percent), national territorial defense (6 percent), terrorism (4 percent) and Charter change (3 percent).
