Poll: 5 in 10 Pinoys see better lives

MANILA, Philippines – Five in 10 Filipinos expect their lives to get better next year, a latest survey by Pulse Asia showed.

Another survey, conducted by the Social Weather Stations, showed that four in 10 Filipinos said providing livelihood programs and jobs as well as monitoring the prices of basic commodities are the primary issues that should be addressed by the Aquino administration.

Pulse Asia’s survey, conducted from July 1 to 11, found that 53 percent of Filipinos expect change in their personal quality of life next year, compared to 32 percent last March.

On the other hand, pessimism dropped from 26 percent in March to 11 percent in July.

Reports said optimism among Filipinos is now at its highest level since the 1997 Asian financial crisis due to the ascendancy of President Aquino.

Optimism was highest in the National Capital Region with 66 percent, followed by balance Luzon with 56 percent, the Visayas with 51 percent, and Mindanao with 39 percent.

Among socio-economic groupings, optimism was highest among the ABC class with 58 percent, D (56 percent), and E (46 percent).

The survey also revealed that fewer Filipinos now want to migrate to another country and live there.

It showed that one in 10 Filipinos (nine percent) of Filipinos agreed with the statement “If it were only possible, I would migrate to another country and live there.”

This was down by 11 percentage points from 20 percent in March.

The July poll revealed that 75 percent of Filipinos disagreed with the statement “If it were only possible, I would migrate to another country and live there,” up by 19 percentage points from 56 percent in March.

Previous Pulse Asia surveys showed that the desire to migrate among Filipinos went as high as 29 percent in 2006 during the Arroyo administration.

It stayed at 20 percent for three straight quarters since August 2009 before dropping to a record low of nine percent in July.

Class ABC had the biggest drop (-15) in wanting to migrate: from 27 percent in March, it fell to 12 percent in July.

Among the “masa” (D), the desire to migrate fell from 20 percent in March to nine percent in July.

Among the poorest households (E), it fell from 18 percent in March to 10 percent in July.

The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Livelihood programs, jobs

Meantime, four in 10 Filipinos said providing livelihood programs and jobs as well as monitoring basic commodities are the primary issues that need to be addressed by the administration of President Aquino.

The Second Quarter 2010 Social Weather Survey showed that 43 percent of Filipinos asked the government to give livelihood programs, 33 percent batted for jobs, while 32 percent pointed to the prices of basic commodities as the top three concerns among the 20 issues raised in the survey.

Also among the concerns that landed at the top of the list were helping farmers and agricultural programs (25 percent), lower prices of medicine and health programs (25 percent), and eradicating graft and corruption in government (25 percent).

Other issues were ensuring food security in the country (six percent), restoring peace in Mindanao (five percent), enacting laws (two percent), and changing the Constitution (two percent).

Across regions, Mindanao-based respondents have a high concern for livelihood with 46 percent while those at the National Capital Region have the least worry at 26 percent.

In contrast, 39 percent of NCR respondents picked jobs as the top concern while only 10 percent from the rest of Luzon listed it as the top priority.

A survey by Pulse Asia last week showed that 36 percent of Filipinos wanted the new government to provide jobs, 22 percent wanted it to prioritize price control while 13 percent said addressing corruption should be considered a priority.

The survey, conducted from June 25 to 28, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six points for area percentages. –Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)