MANILA: Filipinos remain most concerned about the need to control inflation, followed by fighting graft and corruption in government, according to Pulse Asia Research’s September 2026 Ulat ng Bayan survey.
The survey was conducted from Sept 17 to 24 through face-to-face interviews with 2,400 representative adults aged 18 and above. It has a margin of error of ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Of the 19 selected issues, Pulse Asia said inflation is the only issue that a majority of Filipino adults (71%) believe the national government must immediately address.
A distant second are fighting graft and corruption in government (39%) and increasing workers’ pay (36%). Fighting criminality (24%) and reducing poverty (21%) comprise a third group of urgent national concerns.
In fourth place are creating more jobs (18%), fighting the sale and use of illegal drugs (18%), and reducing gasoline prices amid the current energy crisis (14%).
Additionally, Filipinos placed importance on helping farmers (9%), promoting peace (9%), addressing involuntary hunger (8%), enforcing the rule of law (7%), reducing taxes (6%), responding to the needs of disaster-affected areas (6%), protecting the environment (5%), and providing assistance to small entrepreneurs (5%).
They are least concerned about defending national territorial integrity (2%), protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (1%), and preparing to address terrorist threats (1%).
Pulse Asia said the only notable changes in public opinion on urgent national issues were the increase in attention on controlling inflation (+14 percentage points) and the decrease in concern about reducing poverty (-5 percentage points).
Changes in public opinion on specific issues were also noted in certain areas and socioeconomic classes. Concern about controlling inflation increased in the rest of Luzon (+19 percentage points), Mindanao (+17 percentage points) and all socioeconomic classes (+13 to +18 percentage points). Concern about fighting graft and corruption fell in Metro Manila (-11 percentage points), while concern about increasing workers’ pay declined among Class ABC respondents (-14 percentage points).
Concern about fighting criminality increased in Mindanao (+11 percentage points), while concern about reducing poverty declined among Class D respondents (-5 percentage points). Concern about creating more jobs increased among Class E respondents (+13 percentage points), while concern about addressing involuntary hunger declined in Mindanao (-9 percentage points) and among Class E respondents (-12 percentage points).
From September 2025 to September 2026, the survey showed that Filipinos became more concerned about controlling the rising prices of basic commodities (+17 percentage points).
On the other hand, focus on fighting corruption in government and reducing taxes declined by 12 and 6 percentage points, respectively.
Mixed public assessment of government performance
Meanwhile, 52% of Filipinos expressed appreciation for the government’s efforts to protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers.
The plurality of respondents approved of the national government’s efforts to respond to the needs of calamity-affected areas, at 40%.
Disapproval ratings ranged from a plurality to nearly half of respondents for the administration’s efforts to enforce the rule of law (42%), create more jobs (44%), promote peace (47%), increase workers’ pay (49%), address involuntary hunger (49%), and reduce taxes (50%).
A sizeable plurality of Filipino adults (39%) said they could neither approve nor disapprove of the administration’s efforts to address terrorist threats. - Inquirer/Ann
