Majority of Filipinos continue to consider inflation as the country's most pressing concern that the national administration must address immediately, based on the findings of a Pulse Asia survey released on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

Pulse Asia’s “Ulat ng Bayan” survey, which was conducted from Sept. 10 to 14 with 1,200 adult respondents, found that 74 percent expressed concern about the need to control the rising prices of basic commodities.

The second most frequently mentioned urgent national concern (49 percent) is increasing worker’s pay, while a third group of responses includes creating more jobs (27 percent), reducing poverty (25 percent), and fighting graft and corruption in government (22 percent).

“Except for the double-digit increase in the level of concern regarding the need to control the rising prices of basic goods (+11 percentage points) from June 2023 to September 2023, public opinion about urgent national concerns is virtually constant during this period,” Pulse Asia said.

“Year-on-year, concern about inflation becomes more pronounced (+8 percentage points) while levels of concern go down in relation to job creation (-8 percentage points) and poverty reduction (-9 percentage points),” it added.

A fourth set of national concerns that the national administration must address immediately includes fighting crimes (18 percent), resolving involuntary hunger (14 percent), and providing assistance to farmers (13 percent).

Another group of urgent national concerns includes enforcing the rule of law (11 percent), helping small entrepreneurs to restore their businesses (9 percent), promoting peace (9 percent), protecting the environment (8 percent), defending national territorial integrity (7 percent), and reducing the amount of taxes paid by citizens (7 percent).

Meanwhile, Filipino adults are least concerned about protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (4 percent) and preparing to face terrorist threats (3 percent)

Pulse Asia found that majority of Filipinos in all geographic areas and socio-economic classes are concerned about controlling inflation, while 51 percent of those in Luzon, 55 percent in the Visayas, and 52 percent in Class D are concerned about increasing worker’s pay.

“No other national concerns are deemed urgent by majorities across areas and classes,” it pointed out.