MANILA - Inflation and higher pay for workers are the two top issues that majority of Filipinos want the government to act on, according to a Pulse Asia survey released Thursday.

Out of the 1,800 Filipino adults surveyed last Sept. 1-7, 63 percent said controlling inflation is their top concern, a 12-point increase on the issue from last June's 51 percent.

Improving the pay of workers, meanwhile, remains a concern of 50 percent of the respondents, Pulse Asia said, adding that the figure remains unchanged for 3 straight quarters.

"Amidst the soaring prices of basic goods, a sizable majority of Filipinos (63%) say inflation is an issue that the Duterte administration must immediately address," the pollster said.

Also among the top national concerns were reducing poverty, creating more jobs, and fighting graft and corruption in the government, and fighting criminality, the survey showed.

Meanwhile, charter change remains the least concern of Filipinos, the poll showed, with only 3 percent of the respondents ranking it high—a figure that remains unchanged for 4 straight quarters.

Pulse Asia noted that the survey was done after the Philippine Statistics Authority announced that inflation hit a 9-year high at 6.4 percent in August.

It also noted other circumstances like the depreciation of the Philippine Peso against the American dollar, as well as the increasing prices of basic commodities, particularly rice.

President Rodrigo Duterte's economic team had set immediate measures to tame inflation, including the "immediately release" 4.6 million available sacks of state subsidized rice.

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