Higher pay, lower prices top concerns of Filipinos

RAISING workers' salaries and controlling prices of commodities are the most urgent national concerns of the Filipino people, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey released Tuesday, April 24.

Pulse Asia's March 23 to 28 poll found that 50 percent of Filipinos wanted the Duterte aministration to improve the workers' pay, while 45 percent believed the government must control inflation.

The survey noted that most Filipinos concerned with pay hike came from Class D (54 percent), followed by poorest Class E (41 percent) and top earners Class ABC (38 percent).

A wage hike was also listed as a concern by residents of Luzon (56 percent), Visayas (50 percent), Manila (45), and Mindanao (39 percent).

Filipinos also looked forward to government solutions to poverty (35 percent), creating more jobs (32 percent), and fighting criminality (27 percent).

Other issues deemed urgent by Filipinos were: fighting graft and corruption in government and promoting peace, both at 22 percent; reducing amount of taxes paid (15 percent), and protecting overseas Filipino workers' welfare (13 percent).

One out of 10 Filipinos also sought the government's enforcement of the rule of law, as well as the protection of the environment.

Filipinos were least concerned by population growth (seven percent), national territorial defense (six percent), terrorism (four percent), and Charter change (three percent).

Following the poll results, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. gave assurance that President Rodrigo Duterte would look for ways to heed the public's clamor for a comfortable life.

"There are also the concerns of the President. He wants to give a comfortable life to his fellow countrymen. So the call of our fellow Filipinos on President Duterte is also consistent with his goal," he said in a press conference with Palace reporters.

Some of the issues that cropped up during the survey period were the moves by the Solicitor General and the House justice committee to unseat embattled Chief Justice Maria Sereno; the Justice department's order to dismiss drug cases against Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa; and the Philippines' withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.

Other news that surfaced were the granting of partial protection for alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles; the recommendation for a 60-day closure of Boracay; and Duterte's support for the Philippines' potential joint exploration with China.

Pulse Asia interviewed 1,200 adult Filiinos, using ±3 percentage points error margin at the 95 percent confidence level. Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey were ±6 percentage points at 95 percent confidence level for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. (SunStar Philippines)