Poll: 4 of 10 say economy worsened in 2011

MANILA, Philippines - Nearly four of 10 Filipinos thought the economy in 2011 was worse than in the previous year, results of a Pulse Asia survey conducted in November showed.

The survey, conducted from Nov. 10 to 23, showed 38 percent of Filipinos expressing belief that the state of the economy deteriorated over the past year. Eighteen percent expressed a contrary opinion.

“As surveys go, it’s always a snapshot of the sentiment of the people surveyed at that particular period in time. We would also like to see those numbers go down which is why we’ve hit the ground running for 2012. We started in the last quarter of 2011, hoping to see those numbers in particular decrease,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press briefing when asked to comment on the survey results.

Between October 2010 and November 2011, the percentage of Filipinos who thought the economy was better declined by 12 percentage points while the percentage of those who observed a deterioration in the Philippine economy increased by 22 percentage points, Pulse Asia said.

Among those who claimed the economy was in a worse state than it was a year ago, 66 percent said they were strongly affected by the development; 31 percent, somehow affected; and three percent claiming to have been unaffected.

Majorities across geographic areas (56 to 74 percent) and socio-economic groupings (55 to 72 percent) claimed to have been strongly affected by the perceived economic deterioration, the Pulse Asia survey showed.

Meanwhile, the survey found 45 percent of Filipinos convinced the economy was unchanged in October last year from the previous year’s figure. The figure was at 54 percent in October 2010.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of those who believed the economy was in better shape claimed feeling its impact on their lives.

In Mindanao, more than half was convinced the economy was worse than it was a year ago.

The Pulse Asia survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents with sampling error margin of plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Among major issues during the survey period were the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the government’s travel ban on Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as well as her arrest on Nov. 18 for electoral fraud. Also dominating the news during the period were the murder of Ramgen Revilla and the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others. Aurea Calica