Pedestrians traverse the overpass in North Avenue in Quezon City. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — Nearly 3 in 10 Filipinos or "gainers" reported that their quality of life improved, according to a survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) released Monday.
Of the 1,200 polled in March, 29 percent said their quality of life was "better" than 12 months earlier, the SWS said.
Twenty-five percent said it "got worse" ("losers"), while 46 percent noted it was the same a year ago, the results showed.
The SWS said that the March 2023 net gainer score, or when losers are subtracted from gainers and rounded off, was +5. This is rated as "high," although it was "3 points below the high +8 in December 2022."
"[I]t is still 13 points below the pre-pandemic level of very high +18 in December 2019," the pollster added.
On Thursday, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said she was "concerned" and "challenged" over the results of the SWS survey.
"Our objective really is to make sure that everybody feels that their quality of life has improved," Edillon told ANC's "Rundown."
Metro Manila's net gainers' score fell from very high to high, or down by 16 points, but it stayed very high in the rest of Luzon.
In the Visayas, net gainers were down by 10 points, or from fair to mediocre, while Mindanao saw a 4-point reduction in net gainers.
Edillon attributed the drop in Visayas' net gainers score to power outages, "rising temperatures" during the dry season, and elevated inflation.
"Inflation affects all of us," she said.
In late May, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed an executive order creating an inter-agency committee to tackle inflation.
Aside from taming inflation, it is also directed to "enhance initiatives to improve the economy and the quality of life of Filipinos," according to Malacañang.