34% of Pinoys say life got ‘worse’

AT LEAST 34 percent of Filipino adults believed that their quality of life got worse compared to a year ago, the first-quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said.

Results of the non-commissioned poll done face-to-face from April 19 to 27 among 1,440 adults also showed that 32 percent believed that it got better (“gainers”), while 34 percent said it was the same (“unchanged”), compared to 12 months before.

The April 2022 Net Gainer score is 14 points up from the mediocre -16 in December 2021, but still 20 points below the pre-pandemic level of the very high +18 in December 2019.

The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality of life in the past 12 months has been fielded 144 times since April 1983.

The Net Gainer score was generally negative until 2015 when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but still has not reached the positive range.

The SWS said the 14-point improvement in the national Net Gainer score between December 2021 and April 2022 was due to increases in all areas.

Compared to December 2021, Net Gainers rose from mediocre to high in Metro Manila, up by 14 points from -11 to +4.

It also rose from mediocre to high in Balance Luzon, up by 13 points from -11 to +1. It eased from very low to mediocre in the Visayas, up by 19 points from -31 to -12. It eased from mediocre to fair in Mindanao, up by 11 points from -15 to -4.

Malacañang meanwhile said the improved life of more Filipinos is an indication that the Duterte administration’s measures against COVID-19 are “working.”

In a press statement, acting Presidential Spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar welcomed the results of the Social Weather Station’s (SWS) April 19 to 27 poll which showed that 32 percent of adult Filipinos believed their life got better in the past 12 months.

The latest figure was higher than the 24 percent registered in December 2021.

“We view this improvement as incontrovertible proof that the current government’s pandemic response is working, where we put premium on both health and the economy,” Andanar said.