Filipinos feel Duterte administration must do more to combat inflation, raise workers pay 

January 13, 2017

Filipinos fully support the Duterte administration handling of 11  key issues led by its anti-crime drive, but disapprove its way of combatting inflation, a survey by Pulse Asia said Friday.

The issues were the Duterte administration enjoy high approval are criminality (84 percent), disaster response (80 percent), corruption (76 percent), OFW welfare (75 percent), peace ( 72 percent), environment (69 percent), rule of law (69 percent), territorial defense (65 percent), jobs (58 percent), workers’ pay (57 percent) and poverty ( 51 percent).

“It is only on the issue of controlling inflation – an issue considered urgent by 34 percent of Filipinos – on which the present dispensation fails to obtain a majority approval score (44 percent),” Pulse Asia said in its poll, which was taken from December 6-11.

Pulse Asia said although Filipinos’ assessment “remains constant between September and December 2016”, the significant movements are the decline in approval ratings are “increasing pay of workers (-7 percentage points), control inflation (-7 percentage points) and reduce poverty (-8 percentage points).”

It added that “The most often mentioned urgent national concern in December 2016 is the need to increase workers’ pay (45 percent).”

Inflation in December reached 2.6 percent, close to a two-year high of 2.8 percent. This was  due to the holiday season and supply constraints on some items, said National Economic Development Authority Director General Ernesto Pernia.

Full year inflation averaged 1.6 percent below government’s range of two to four percent but higher than 1.4 percent in 2015. DMS