A survey conducted by polling firm Pulse Asia Research has found that controlling the prices of goods and services remains the most urgent concern of Filipinos, with 69 percent of respondents believing it to be an issue that requires immediate government action.
The survey was conducted between March 23 and 29, 2025 among 2,400 adult Filipinos across the country, chosen through multi-stage probability sampling.
Other issues deemed of utmost importance were increasing the pay of workers (36 percent), fighting graft and corruption in government (28 percent), fighting criminality (28 percent), reducing the poverty of many Filipinos (27 percent), and creating more jobs (20 percent).
rcentage point- difference between the most urgent and second-most urgent concern is telling. It is also consistent with the respondents’ disapproval of the current administration’s to control inflation (79 percent disapprove, 3 percent approve), fight graft and corruption (53 percent disapprove, 13 percent approve), reduce poverty (48 percent disapprove, 12 percent approve), and increase workers’ pay (48 percent disapprove, 16 percent approve).
While it is worthwhile to mention that the administration gained a 51-percent approval rating in both protecting the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers and responding to the needs of calamity-affected areas, it is important to qualify these. The protection of OFWs figures in the three top concerns of just 3 percent of respondents, while calamity assistance does not even count as among the most urgent.
The same survey showed that administration figures had grim showing in their trust ratings.
It may well be that recent political developments and efforts to win the hearts and minds of Filipinos through false or misleading narratives could be responsible for the trust picture.
But this is more certain: that the trust of the people is a function of how well their leaders address the issues they deem most important to their quality of life. The administration must thus take the cue from what the people are saying. Economic issues, over many others, remain their most pressing concerns. At the end of the day, and whoever is in power, the people want nothing more than to afford basic goods so that they can provide for the needs of their families. They want to be able to earn more money for the work that they put in. They want to see their taxes managed and spent honestly. They want to be able to rise above their poverty and contemplate a brighter future for their loved ones.
Filipinos have long been enslaved by personal loyalties and individual appeals to emotion. It is time to cut the histrionics and evaluate our leaders by the issues they address. They must do this not only in words but in decisions and sustained action. These latest numbers are telling us something — that whoever is able to allay people’s economic apprehensions have a decent shot at earning their trust and approval.