Cha-cha not Pinoys’ priority – OCTA poll

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos do not consider Charter change as urgent and instead want the government to prioritize their most urgent national concerns – access to affordable food, higher wages and controlling inflation, according to the latest OCTA Research survey.

Based on the survey, “controlling the increase in prices of goods and services” (57 percent), “improving/increasing wages or salaries of workers” (45 percent) and “access to affordable food like rice, vegetables and meat” (44 percent) were the three most urgent programs the government should focus on.

“Inflation, access to affordable food and increasing workers’ wages remain the most urgent national concerns of adult Filipinos. The government should prioritize resolving these,” OCTA said.

Most adult Filipinos do not consider changing the Constitution or Charter change as an urgent national concern, with only one percent of Filipinos noting this was an urgent national concern.

The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading in March the bill that operationalizes the constitutional convention that will introduce amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

OCTA said results of the Tugon ng Masa nationwide survey are non-commissioned and focus on adult Filipino’s urgent national and personal concerns.

Conducted from March 24 to 28, 2023, the survey had 1,200 male and female respondents aged 18 years and above.

The National Capital Region (NCR), balance Luzon and Mindanao, with nearly six out of 10 Filipinos, said that controlling the increase of prices of goods and services should be the government’s top priority.

OCTA said the survey showed that Filipinos who reside in the Visayas region were less concerned about controlling the increase in the prices of goods and services, with only 46 percent of them saying that this is an urgent personal concern.

Visayas residents, however, said they are concerned over access to affordable food like rice, vegetables and meat (56 percent) as compared to those in NCR, Mindanao (both at 38 percent) and balance Luzon (44 percent).

Class E is the most affected by the issue of access to affordable food at 52 percent, followed by those in Class ABC (45 percent) and D (41 percent).

Class D and E also want the government to prioritize controlling price increases, with 57 percent and 60 percent saying that the government should prioritize this. In comparison, only 48 percent of Class ABC indicated the same concern.

NCR and Mindanao respondents also said the government should be more concerned about improving/increasing wages or salaries of workers, with 50 and 48 percent of them communicating such, as compared to those in balance Luzon (44 percent) and the Visayas (40 percent).

OCTA noted that among the Filipinos’ top personal concerns were “To stay healthy and avoid illness” at 66 percent, “To finish schooling or to be able to provide schooling for our children” at 51 percent and “To have a secure and well-paying job or source of income” at 50 percent.

The survey also showed that “more Filipinos now believe in the power of saving.”

Those concerned about “being able to have savings” increased by six percentage points from 37 percent in October last year to 43 percent this year.