Amid efforts to pursue Charter change (Cha-cha) through the ongoing people’s initiative, a survey conducted by the OCTA Research found that most Filipinos do not consider Cha-cha as an urgent national concern.

Based on the results of OCTA's December 2023 "Tugon ng Masa" survey released on Monday, Jan. 22, only 1 percent of adult Filipinos believe Cha-cha is an urgent issue that the government must address.

Controlling inflation remains the top urgent concern of majority of Filipinos at 73 percent.

“In December 2023, the urgency of controlling the increase in prices of basic goods and services persists among adult Filipinos. There is a substantial increase from 52 percent in July 2023 to the latest figure of 73 percent, marking a notable 21 percentage point increase,” OCTA pointed out.

“It is also the top concern across major areas and income classes,” it added.

Access to affordable food such as rice, vegetables, and meat (45 percent) ranks as the second most urgent national concern (45 percent).

Filipinos are also concerned about creating jobs (36 percent), increasing workers’ pay (34 percent), and reducing poverty (32 percent).

Other national concerns raised in the survey included providing quality education (15 percent), fighting graft and corruption (13 percent), promoting peace and order (10 percent), combating criminality (8 percent), enforcing the law (7 percent), lowering taxes (6 percent), protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (4 percent), preparing for any kind of terrorist threat (4 percent), stopping the destruction and abuse of environment (4 percent), defending Philippine territory (3 percent), containing the spread of Covid-19 (3 percent), and controlling population growth (3 percent).

Aside from Cha-cha, Filipinos also do not see lowering electricity costs (0.1 percent) or combating illegal drugs (0.02 percent) as urgent concerns.

Health most urgent ‘personal concern’ for Filipinos

OCTA said the most urgent personal concern for adult Filipinos is staying healthy and avoiding illness (71 percent).

From July to December 2023, the percentage of adult Filipinos concerned about staying healthy and avoiding illness rose from 65 to 71 percent.

The next most pressing personal concern for adult Filipinos is "at least to be able to have enough to eat every day" (50 percent), followed by "to have a secure and well-paying job or source of income" (47 percent).

“Among these concerns, the primary goal that adult Filipinos would like to achieve soonest is to have a secure and well-paying job or source of income, followed by staying healthy and avoiding illnesses, and to finish schooling or to be able to provide schooling for children,” OCTA said.

“Interestingly, one of the top three concerns of adult Filipinos shifted from the aspiration to finish schooling or provide education for their children—decreasing from 50 to 44 percent in December 2023–to the immediate concern of having enough to eat every day,” it added.

Meanwhile, the proportion of adult Filipinos concerned about finding a stable and well-paying job or source of income fell from 52 percent in July 2023 to 47 percent in December 2023.

The Fourth Quarter 2023 “Tugon ng Masa” survey was fielded from Dec. 10 to 14, 2023 through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

It has a ±3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level, with subnational estimates for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao at a ±6 percent margin of error.