Inflation remained the top concern of Filipinos, based on the latest quarterly poll released by Pulse Asia on Tuesday.

Conducted from June 19 to 23, 2023, the results of the second quarter survey showed that 63% of the country’s adult population said that the increase in the prices of basic commodities is an issue that the national administration must address immediately.

After reaching a 14-year high of 8.7% in January 2023, the nation’s inflation rate began to decline in the months that followed (5.4% in June 2023) as the government identified short-term solutions such as increasing supply through the temporary relaxing of import restrictions, price monitoring, and targeted social support.

This was followed by increasing workers’ pay (44%), creating more jobs (31%), reducing poverty (30%), and fighting graft and corruption in government (25%).

The least often mentioned urgent national concerns are defending national territorial integrity (6%), addressing terroristic threats (4%), and protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (4%).

The national administration received majority approval on 10 of the 13 issues that were used to evaluate its performance in June 2023.

Adult Filipinos are most grateful for the administration’s efforts to protect the welfare of OFWs (76%) and address the needs of disaster-affected communities (73%). The national administration’s majority approval ratings are lowest on the issues of upholding the law (56%), increasing employment (53%), and raising wages (52%).

About the same percentage of adults in the nation either disapprove (37%), or are undecided (32%), about the administration’s effectiveness in containing inflation.

The results were gathered from face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults ages 18 and above, with a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.