ONE of two adult Filipinos are optimistic that life will improve in the next 12 months, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found in its survey conducted in March.
The March 28 to 31 poll found that 50 percent of adult Filipinos are "optimists" about life, while only four percent, or 1 out of 25 adults, are "pessimists" who expect their life to get worse in the next 12 months.
The survey results yielded a net personal optimism score of "excellent" +40, seven points higher than in December 2018.
The SWS also revealed that 45 percent were optimistic that the Philippine economy would improve, while only 10 percent were convinced it would deteriorate.
The poll results showed a net economic optimism rating of "excellent" +35, three points above the "excellent" +32 in December last year.
The same survey also showed that 38 percent of adult Filipinos considered themselves "gainers" as their lives improved, while 21 perent believed they were "losers" as their lives worsened in the last 12 months.
Net gainers score was at "very high" +17, up by five points from December 2018's "very high" +12.
Reacting to the poll results, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace welcomes the continuous rise in number of Filipino adults saying that their lives improved over the past 12 months.
"These results once again emphasize that our people see and appreciate the President’s tireless efforts to improve and bring about genuine and positive change to the nation," he said in a statement.
"This is yet another loud repudiation against - and yet another wake-up call to - the critics and detractors of the Duterte administration, which include the Left-leaning groups, militant Church members and the political opposition, who continuously and deliberately ignore our achievements which redound to the benefit of the Filipino masses," he added.
Panelo vowed that the current administration would continue striving hard to improve the lives of the Filipino people in the remaining three years of President Rodrigo Duterte in office.
"With a great majority of administration candidates overwhelmingly voted by our people to continue supporting the advocacies of the President, the current government, fueled by the optimism of the Filipino people, would work double time to improve on the significant gains of the past three years during the remainder of (Duterte)'s term as Chief Executive," he said.
SWS interviewed 1,440 adult Filipinos, using sampling error margins of ±2.6 percentage points for national percentages, and ±5 percentage points each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. (SunStar Philippines)