Survey Says That Filipinos Not Happy With Pres Marcos Jr’s Handling of Inflation

Most Filipinos are not happy with the way President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is handling the inflation problems of the country.

According to a nationwide survey conducted by Pulse Asia, 42% of the respondents believe that Marcos is not doing a good enough job in managing inflation, while 31% believe that they were satisfied with government performance in taming the increasing prices. The survey was conducted from September 17 – 21, 2022 with 1,200 adults.

This meant a net approval rating of -11%. This is the only area in which President Marcos Jr. received a negative performance rating.

For other areas, President Marcos Jr. was able to get positive net scores such as in responding to the needs of areas affected by calamities with +75% and controlling the spread of COVID-19 with +74%.

Aside from these, the current President also received positive remarks in creating more jobs with +47%, boosting wages with +46%, and reducing poverty with +13% despite public dissatisfaction with the management of inflation.

However, the rapidly increasing prices remain to be a problem for this administration.

The September survey also showed that 66% of the respondents indicated inflation as the primary national concern that Marcos should handle first. This beats other problem areas such as pandemic response, law enforcement, and corruption.

Mr. Anthony Lawrence Borja, a political science professor at the De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila, has mentioned that inflation seems to be “a growing threat”  to the popularity of President Marcos.

“Inflation’s negative impact on Marcos’ popularity might be reduced by: (1) the capacity of Filipinos to excuse him by blaming other actors from economic managers to foreign governments; (2) high approval in relation to other pertinent economic issues like job creation and increasing salaries; (3) ‘maghigpit ng sinturon’ mentality or an endemic sense of resilience and survival sans the government,” Borja adds.

Source: Philstar