Inflation remains a blemish in Marcos admin's popularity — survey

Ramon Royandoyan - Philstar.com MANILA, Philippines — Inflation continued to blemish the Marcos administration’s popularity, according to a new Pulse Asia survey, as painfully high prices squeeze household budgets. A March 15-19 Pulse Asia poll of 1,200 adults nationwide showed 52% of respondents saying they don’t approve of the government’s efforts to control inflation. Survey results also revealed that 25% of Filipinos believe the state is doing a great job in taming consumer prices, while 23% were undecided. This yielded a net performance rating of -27, the only area where the Marcos administration got a negative score. At the same time, Pulse Asia reported that inflation continued to be the top concern of Filipinos. Survey results showed 63% of respondents said inflation is the most urgent problem that the government must fix first, trumping other national concerns like corruption and maintaining peace and order. Still, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. managed to keep his high approval score, which nevertheless fell four points to 78 in March. "The recent Pulse Asia survey shows a slight increase in disapproval over the government's capacity to address the twin issues of job creation and wage increase. If we take these into consideration, then coping in the face of inflation might not be stable on the long run if current trends persist," Anthony Lawrence Borja, political science professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said. "Leader-centric tendencies that Filipinos share can either make them pin all the blame on the chief, or excuse the leader by blaming other agencies that are connected with a crucial issue. Specifically, we should now ask if ordinary citizens are satisfied with current economic managers, and how much of their attitudes are transferable to President Marcos Jr.," Borja added. Inflation eased to 7.6% year-on-year in March, marking a slowdown that economic managers have been waiting for. Inflation impacts the economy in many ways, but for consumers, an uptrend entailed the weakening of their purchasing power. A peso in 2018 does not hold the same value in 2022, as consumer price growth in October last year showed it weakened to P0.85. Aside from inflation, issues that warranted urgency for Filipinos were increasing workers’ pay, clocking in 44% as of the latest survey round.