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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Economy must be foremost focus of PBBM’

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The most pressing among macro-economic issues is uplifting the country’s economy, the results of the latest PUBLiCUS survey released Friday suggested.

Conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc., the PAHAYAG Third Quarter Survey between September 16-20 saw 23 percent of respondents saying that it must be the foremost focus of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

One in 10 voters said the most important issue the President should focus on is corruption (12%), poverty (11%), prices/inflation (11%), or jobs (10%), which are closely interrelated with the economy.

The 1,500 registered Filipino voters who participated in the PAHAYAG 2022 Third Quarter Survey were randomly sampled by PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with multinational presence, from its national panel of more than 200,000 Filipinos. The sample-wide margin of error is +/- 3%.

It echoed a recent Pulse Asia poll that showed most Filipinos see the need to control inflation as the most urgent issue that requires the government’s immediate attention.

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In that survey of 1,200 adults conducted from Sept. 17 to 21, 66 percent of the respondents cited inflation as the most important issue, followed by increasing workers’ pay at 44 percent, creating more jobs at 35 percent, and reducing poverty at 34 percent.

The Marcos administration received mostly positive ratings in addressing various national issues, except in controlling the increasing prices of basic commodities.

About 18 percent of respondents in the PUBLiCUS survey said that not having the money to pay for basic needs remains the top key concern among households heading into the last quarter of 2022, the survey firm added.

Other issues including losing a job (12%), not getting enough pay (12%), difficulty in finding employment (11%), and getting sick with a serious disease apart from COVID-19 (10%) all boil down to the fear of not being able to afford one’s living necessities.

The most popular issues among Filipinos currently are the use of renewable energy, penalizing text spammers and scammers, and the continuation of government subsidies like Libreng Sakay and “ayuda” (cash aid) for marginalized sectors

The survey saw 88 percent of respondents saying they “approve” or “strongly approve” of using renewable energy such as wind and solar farms.

Equally popular at 87 percent is the general sentiment of being fed up with the spread of text spammers/scammers to the point of wanting to penalize them, the firm said in a statement.

The next most approved issues are the continuation of government subsidies in the form of free rides and cash aid for people below the poverty line (78%), and banning sexual offenders from teaching (76%).

Even with a 71-percent approval of the full implementation of face-to-face classes, hybrid work remains an acceptable arrangement for 72 percent of respondents, the survey added.

SIM card registration to curb scammers and the NTF-ELCAC are supported by 7 out of 10 respondents.

Some of the least approved are the removal of general education subjects in college, taxing of passive income, importation of refined sugar, and increasing prices of commodities.

PAHAYAG is an independent and non-commissioned national purposive survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. PAHAYAG, a CSR program of PUBLiCUS, is released quarterly.

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