MANILA, Philippines —  The rising cost of basic commodities and services remains the most urgent issue confronting Filipinos, a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed.

The survey, conducted from March 23 to 29, showed 69 percent of the respondents selecting inflation as among their three most urgent national concerns.

It was selected as the most urgent concern by 38 percent of the respondents, second by 20 percent and third by 12 percent.

Aside from inflation, other top concerns include increasing the pay of workers (36 percent), fighting graft and corruption (28 percent), fighting criminality (28 percent), reducing poverty (27 percent) and creating more jobs (20 percent).

These were followed by promoting peace (17 percent), providing assistance to farmers (13 percent), addressing involuntary hunger (13 percent), equal enforcement of the law (11 percent), providing support to small businesses (10 percent) and stopping the destruction of the environment (10 percent).

Obtaining less than 10 percent were defending the integrity of the Philippine territory, reducing taxes, preparing for terrorist acts and protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers.

The survey was conducted over a month before the midterm elections on May 12.

It had 2,400 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus two percent.