More Pinoys see better life in next 12 months - poll

By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) Updated November 01, 2010

MANILA, Philippines - A recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found more Filipinos are expecting their lives to improve in the next 12 months.

The Third Quarter Social Weather Survey, conducted from Sept. 24 to 27, showed 38 percent of Filipino adults expecting their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months and only six percent expect it to get worse, for a “very high” net personal optimism score of +32.

The new figure was close to the record-high +36 in the previous quarter, the SWS said.

SWS said net personal optimism has been over +20 in the past five quarters, beginning September 2009.

The latest personal pessimism score of six percent was just one point above the record-low five percent in June 2010, the pollster said.

Meanwhile, the same survey also found 39 percent of Filipinos expecting the Philippine economy to get better and only nine percent think it would get worse, for a “very high” net economic optimism score of +29.

SWS reported a record-high net +39 in June this year.

“Prior to June 2010, net economic optimism had been double-digit negatives in 30 out of 46 surveys since September 1998,” the SWS said.

On the matter of change in personal quality of life compared to 12 months ago, 27 percent said their lives had worsened (“losers”), and 25 percent said it got better (“gainers”), for a fair net gainers-losers score of -2, similar to -6 in the previous quarter.

The SWS indicators of future economic trends are the people’s perceived directions of forthcoming change in their personal quality of life, and the economy as a whole.

The indicator of the past economic trend is the people’s perceived direction of change in their personal quality of life from 12 months ago to the present.

SWS said personal optimism reached a record high in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Over the past two quarters, net personal optimism stayed high/very high in all areas and classes, with new record highs set in the Visayas and Mindanao, it said.

In the Visayas, net personal optimism rose from +27 in June to a record high +33 in September. It has been at double-digit positives since June 2009.

In Mindanao, it rose from +26 to record-high +32. It ranged from +11 to +27 from September 2008 to March this year.

In Metro Manila, net personal optimism stayed very high at +44 in June and +41 in September. It has been at double-digit positives since December 2008, and highest compared to other areas since September 2009.

In balance Luzon, it was at a very high +43 in June and a high +29 in September. It ranged from +23 to +28 from December 2008 to March this year.

In class ABC, net personal optimism was at very high +48 in the previous quarter and at a high +24 in September. It ranged from +23 to +32 from September 2009 to March this year.

It stayed at very high level in class D or the “masa,” from +36 in the previous quarter to +34 in September. It ranged from high +21 to +26 from September 2009 to March this year.

In class E, it was at a very high +32 in June and a high +26 in September 2010. It has been at double-digit positives since June 2009.

Meanwhile, SWS said net economic optimism has reached record-highs across the board in June and stayed high or very high in September, with a new record-high level set in Mindanao.

Compared to the previous quarter, net economic optimism went from +27 to record-high +32 in Mindanao, from record-high +28 to +27 in the Visayas, from record-high +45 to +38 in Metro Manila, and from record-high +48 to +26 in balance Luzon.

By class, it went from +36 to +29 in class E, from +38 to +30 in class D, and from record-high +52 to +23 in class ABC.

SWS said net gainers-losers, or the number of gainers exceeding losers, improved to fair levels in most areas by June 2010.

As of September this year, it either stayed or improved to fair levels in all areas, the SWS said.

Compared to the previous quarter, it stayed fair in Metro Manila, from net -7 to +4, in balance Luzon, from -2 to -7, and in Mindanao, from -8 to +9.

In the Visayas, it went from a mediocre -11 to a fair -8.

Net gainers-losers improved to fair levels in all classes in June, and slightly declined in classes ABC and E by September, the SWS said.

Compared to the previous quarter, net gainers-losers stayed fair in class D, from -7 to +2, it said.

It went from a fair -9 to a mediocre -12 in class E, and from a fair +9 to a low -21 in class ABC.

The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

It had sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages.