The need to control inflation continued to be the leading urgent national concern of Filipino adults, with 59 percent saying the national administration should take immediate steps to address rising prices, according to the 1st Quarter 2026 “Ulat ng Bayan” survey by Pulse Asia Research.

The survey results released on Monday, March 16 showed that inflation emerged as the top first- and second-mentioned urgent concern, cited by 26 percent and 23 percent of respondents, respectively.

This was followed by graft and corruption in government (47 percent) and workers’ pay (36 percent).

Other concerns included reducing poverty (21 percent), creating more jobs (21 percent), fighting illegal drugs (21 percent), and addressing criminality (17 percent).

Issues such as assisting farmers (14 percent), enforcing the rule of law (11 percent), addressing hunger (10 percent), environmental protection (9 percent), and promoting peace (9 percent) were cited by smaller shares of the population.

The least cited concerns were responding to calamity-hit areas (8 percent), reducing taxes (7 percent), helping small entrepreneurs (5 percent), protecting overseas Filipino workers (3 percent), defending national territorial integrity (2 percent), and preparing for terrorist threats (1 percent).

Across regions and socioeconomic classes, only inflation and corruption consistently received majority concern.

Inflation was cited by 53 percent of respondents in the Visayas, 62 percent in the rest of Luzon and Mindanao, and 57 percent to 63 percent across all classes.

Graft and corruption in government also drew high attention, particularly in the rest of Luzon (58 percent) and among Class ABC respondents (64 percent).

Pulse Asia noted that year-on-year comparisons show that public concern over corruption in government rose by 19 percentage points from March 2025 to March 2026.

Conversely, urgency for issues such as helping small entrepreneurs, reducing poverty, promoting peace, controlling inflation, and fighting criminality declined.

Changes were also noted in regional and class-specific responses, including a sharp rise in concern for illegal drugs and farmer assistance in Mindanao, and a decline in concern over workers’ pay and corruption in certain areas.

The survey also assessed public approval of the national administration’s performance across 18 key issues.

Only the protection of overseas Filipino workers received majority approval at 53 percent, despite being considered urgent by just 3% percent of adults.

By contrast, the administration faced majority disapproval for controlling inflation (73 percent), fighting corruption (67 percent), addressing illegal drugs (68 percent), and reducing poverty (53 percent), which remain high-priority issues for the public.

Other issues drew mixed or near-even ratings.

Approval ratings for defending national territorial integrity stood at 41 percent, disaster response at 46 percent, and handling terrorist threats was evenly split at 37 percent approval versus 38 percent disapproval.

Pluralities or majorities expressed disapproval toward the administration’s efforts on increasing workers’ pay (45 percent), creating more jobs (40 percent), addressing hunger (45 percent), protecting the environment (42 percent), and fighting criminality (46 percent).

From December 2025 to March 2026, the survey noted several shifts in perception.

Approval increased on issues such as rule of law (+5 percentage points), hunger (+6), inflation (+7), agricultural assistance (+7), peace (+10), jobs (+10), criminality (+12), and workers’ pay (+13).

Meanwhile, disapproval rose for OFW welfare (+5), rule of law (+5), poverty (+5), disaster response (+8), corruption (+14), and environmental protection (+18).

The nationwide survey was conducted from Feb. 27 to March 2, through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults aged 18 and above.

It has a ±2.8 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Subnational estimates for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have ±5.7 percent error margins at the same confidence level.

Pulse Asia said its Ulat ng Bayan surveys are conducted independently and are not commissioned by any single party.