Optimism hits record high in Q4

MANILA, Philippines - Personal optimism hit a new record high in the fourth quarter of 2015, with 45 percent of Filipinos expecting their quality of life to improve in the next 12 months, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest survey.

The poll, taken from Dec. 5 to 8, found 45 percent of Filipinos saying they expect their lives to get better while five percent said they expect it to get worse, yielding a net personal optimism score of “very high” +40.

The latest net personal optimism surpassed the previous record of +37, also classified as “very high,” in March last year. Net personal optimism was a “very high” +33 in the third quarter of last year.

The SWS also said the number of Filipinos who foresee a better economy in the next 12 months rose by 12 points in the last quarter of 2015.

It found 39 percent of respondents saying they expect the economy would improve in the next 12 months, while eight percent said it would deteriorate, yielding a “very high” +30 net optimism about the economy.

The latest net optimism about the economy, however, failed to beat the record +39 registered in June 2010.

SWS attributed the seven-point increase in the national net personal optimism to the nine-point rise to a “very high” +42 (from +33) in “balance Luzon,” seven-point increase in the Visayas (+32 from +25) and Mindanao (+41 from +34) and three points in Metro Manila (+43 from +40).

Meanwhile, the 12-point improvement in national net optimism about the economy was due to increases of 17 points in the Visayas (+24 from +7), 13 points in balance Luzon (+32 from +19), 11 points in Mindanao (+36 from +25) and seven points in Metro Manila (+26 from +19).

Filipinos’ optimism about the quality of life and the economy stayed “very high” across socioeconomic classes, steady from September’s results, the SWS noted.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. The survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Palace: it inspires us to do better

Malacañang yesterday welcomed the results of the latest SWS survey.

In a statement, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the “encouraging” results of the latest SWS survey “continue to inspire us in government to serve our bosses better.”

“These latest figures are the best for this series in the past five years. Finally, the survey also found 31 percent of respondents saying that their personal quality of life improved over the past 12 months, up from 29 percent last quarter,” he said.

“This shows that optimism continues to surge among Filipinos, in line with recent results, also from the SWS, which found 72 percent of respondents expecting a happy Christmas and 92 percent feeling hopeful about the new year,” he added.

Lacierda also expressed belief that Filipinos would consider the continuity of the Aquino administration’s good governance when they cast their ballots in the coming elections.

“During the next elections, we trust that the Filipino people will vote to continue our upward trajectory along daang matuwid (straight path) and help make the Filipino dream possible for many generations to come,” he said. – With Delon Porcalla