MANILA, Philippines - Most Filipinos consider two economic-related issues - inflation and workers' pay - as the most urgent national concerns, according to a Pulse Asia survey released last week.
The survey showed that 47 percent of Filipinos are most concerned with the country's inflation while 46 percent are concerned with workers' pay.
Corruption in government (39 percent), employment (36 percent) and poverty (35 percent) are among the second cluster of national issues deemed urgent by Filipinos.
The third group of urgent national issues include peace (21 percent), criminality (20 percent), rule of law (16 percent) and environmental destruction (15 percent).
The survey also showed that Filipinos are least concerned about rapid population growth (9 percent), national territorial integrity (7 percent), charter change (4 percent) and terrorism (4 percent).
Workers' pay, employment and inflation are the only issues considered urgent by majorities across geographic areas and socio-economic classes.
| National Concerns | Location | Class | ||||||
| Overall | NCR | Luzon | Visayas | Mindanao | ABC | D | E | |
| Controlling inflation | 47 | 42 | 45 | 47 | 53 | 40 | 46 | 52 |
| Improving/increasing the pay of workers | 46 | 53 | 46 | 42 | 45 | 48 | 46 | 46 |
| Fighting garft and corruption in government | 39 | 40 | 38 | 33 | 44 | 43 | 42 | 31 |
| Creating more jobs | 36 | 37 | 34 | 51 | 26 | 32 | 35 | 41 |
| Reducing poverty of many Filipinos | 35 | 31 | 36 | 35 | 36 | 30 | 34 | 38 |
| Increasing peace in the country | 21 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 29 | 13 | 22 | 21 |
| Fighting criminality | 20 | 26 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 29 | 19 | 21 |
| Enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people | 16 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 15 |
| Stopping the destruction and abuse of our environment | 15 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 9 |
| Controlling fast population growth | 9 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 10 | 5 |
| Defending integrity of Philippine territory against foreigners | 7 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 9 |
| Changing the Constitution | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Preparing to successfully face any kind of terrorism | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
The survey was conducted from May 30 to June 5 using face-to-face interviews among 1,200 respondents who are 18 years old and above.
The respondents were asked which issues that the current administration should immediately address. They were allowed to have multiple response, up to three answers.