In President Rodrigo Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) this Monday, most Filipinos wanted to hear some issues as the COVID-19 pandemic continues a few months before the end of his administration in 2022.
Victories are usually discussed during the SONA, and the president wants to achieve more for the rest of his time in office.
In a new survey by Pulse Asia Research published this Monday, it appears that addressing the various effects of COVID-19 on livelihood is the main concern of Filipinos today, something that will hopefully be mentioned later.
“The issues that Filipino adults would most like the President to discuss in his July 2021 SONA are jobs or livelihood (38%) and the national economy (35%),” said Pulse Asia.
Here are the important issues Filipinos want to be discussed later, based on June 7-16 face-to-face interviews conducted by the group with 2,400 Filipinos aged 18 and over nationwide:
Top 10 issues Filipinos want to hear in 6th SONA – Pulse Asia
Up to 4.5 million people lost their jobs in 2020 since COVID-19 entered the Philippines, the highest annual unemployment rate in the country since April 2005.
It will be recalled that hundreds of offices, businesses, establishments, and services were severely affected by the lockdowns, prompting them to close to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Many of those who work today is only at home. Open jobs are still limited to date due to community quarantine restrictions.
“The least often mentioned issue is charter change (7%),” Pulse Asia said.
Charter change (cha-cha) was one of the things Duterte pushed for, especially his campaign promise to change the system of government to federalism.
However, it is now opposed by some militant lawmakers as it insinuates the proposal of possible foreign ownership of land in the country and easing foreign investment.
Meanwhile, the priorities to be heard by the people of Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao later are different:
Metro Manila: rising commodity prices (48%)
rest of Luzon: economy (39%)
Visayas: employment (41%)
Mindanao: employment (36%)
“The most often mentioned issues in Class ABC are jobs or livelihood (49%), the economy (43%), inflation (37%), and COVID-19 vaccination (37%). In Class D, the leading issues are jobs (37%), the economy (35%), and inflation (34%),” said Pulse Asia.
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