Inflation, workers’ pay, corruption?
PNoy scores low approval ratings

THE ADMINISTRATION of President Benigno S.Aquino III failed to score a majority approval rating on any of the 12 “urgent national concerns and issues” on which it is performance was rated in March 2015 by the creditable pollster Pulse Asia Research Inc.

However, it scored a big plurality to near majority approval ratings on seven national issues: promoting peace in the country (40 percent), enforcing the rule of law (41percent), fighting governmental corruption (42 percent), defending national territorial integrity (43 percent), fighting criminality (45 percent), protecting the environment (48 percent), and addressing the needs of calamity victims (49 percent).

But disapproval was the plurality opinion that the Aquino administration got on the top three urgent national concerns of Filipinos, notably “controlling inflation,” “improving/increasing the pay of workers” and “controlling graft and corruption in the government.”

CONTROLLING inflation was the most urgent national concern based on the results of the Ulat ng Bayan survey of the Social Weather Stations on the urgent national concerns and performance ratings of the national administration. Photo shows a shopping list of a mother-sugarworker in Negros Occidental during the tigkiriwi or the off-milling season | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Pulse Asia said the administration’s disapproval rating also remained the dominant sentiment as far as its efforts to reduce poverty at 40 percent.

Field work for Pulse Asia’s latest Ulat ng Bayan survey on “Urgent National Concerns and the Performance Ratings of the National Administration on Selected Issues” was conducted from March 1 – 7, 2015 using face-to-face interviews.

The major events that transpired during the last four months included the January 25, 2015 encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

IMPROVING / increasing the pay of workers was the second most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan survey results show | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The survey, Pulse Asia said, “showed that the administration scored almost the same approval and indecision figures for its initiatives to create more jobs (37 percent versus 33 percent) and control population growth (37 percent versus 33 percent.)”

Public opinion, meanwhile, is split three-ways with respect to its performance in the area of increasing the pay of workers – 33 percent approval, 35 percent indecision, and 33 percent disapproval. However, appreciation is the plurality view concerning its anti-corruption work (42 percent).

These scores, Pulse Asia said, showed that “public assessment of the national administration’s performance remains largely unchanged” between November 2014, when it last conducted its Ulat ng Bayan survey, and March 2015, the date of its latest survey.

According to Pulse Asia, “for the most part, the performance ratings of the Aquino administration in March 2015 do not differ significantly from those recorded four months ago. “

The only exceptions to this observation are, it said are the following: “decline in approval for the administration’s initiatives to defend national territorial integrity (-7 percentage points); (2) decrease in the level of ambivalence regarding its work in the area of enforcing the law equally on all citizens (-8 percentage points); and (3) increase in disapproval for its efforts to enforce the rule of law (+8 percentage points) and promote peace (+8 percentage points).”

FILIPINOS expect the Aquino administration to fight graft and corruption in government. This is the top three most urgent national concern. Photo shows a child with her mother who was working in a canefield in Negros Occidental | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The March 2015 Ulat ng Bayan Survey revealed that “Filipinos continue to be most concerned about economic-related issues; their sense of urgency regarding selected national issues remains unchanged between November 2014 and March 2015 as well as year-on-year.”

“In March 2015, the leading urgent national concerns among Filipinos are controlling inflation (46 percent), increasing the pay of workers (44 percent), and fighting corruption in government (40 percent), the report said.

“A second set of urgent national concerns include poverty reduction (37 percent) and job creation (34 percent) while a third cluster is comprised of criminality (22 percent), peace (22 percent), and rule of law (19 percent). Filipinos are least concerned about environmental degradation (13 percent), population control (9 percent), national territorial integrity (5 percent), terrorism (5 percent), and charter change (4 percent),” it added.

REDUCING poverty of many Filipinos was the fourth most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan shows | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

These overall figures are “essentially the same as those recorded by Pulse Asia Research a year ago as well as in November 2014.”

In the different geographic areas, Pulse Asia said only two issues were cited as an urgent national concern by majority of residents – “inflation (52 percent in Mindanao) and low workers’ pay (53 percent in the Visayas).”

In Metro Manila, it added that, “the most often mentioned urgent national concerns are low workers’ pay (41 percent), inflation (43 percent), and corruption (49 percent).”

In the rest of Luzon, the top concerns deemed urgent by residents are creating more jobs (37 percent), fighting governmental corruption (38 percent), reducing poverty (41 percent), controlling inflation (44 percent), and increasing the pay of workers (48 percent).

Class ABC “are most concerned about corruption in government (37 percent), poverty (37 percent), low workers’ pay (42 percent), and inflation (49 percent).”

Class D rated its leading urgent national concerns to be low workers’ pay (43 percent), corruption (43 percent), and inflation (45 percent).

Class E cited its most concerned to be poverty (41 percent), job creation (42 percent), low workers’ pay (46 percent), and inflation (47 percent).

Across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes, however, “the least often cited urgent national concerns are territorial integrity (3 percent to 7 percent and 4 percent to 6 percent, respectively), terrorism (3 percent to 8 percent and 4 percent to 7 percent, respectively), and charter change (3 percent to 6 percent and 4 percent to 5 percent.”

As in its previous surveys, Pulse Asia’s latest was “based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above” and “has a ± 3% error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.”

“Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 6% error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level.” It added.

Pulse Asia said its pool of academic fellows “takes full responsibility for the design and conduct of the survey, as well as for analyses it makes based on the survey data.” Most important of all, “in keeping with our academic nature, no religious, political, economic, or partisan group influenced any of these processes.”

“Pulse Asia Research undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort,” it said.