79% of Pinoys approve of Duterte admin's fight vs. crime –Pulse Asia

The Duterte administration got high approval scores in its fight against criminality, with almost eight in 10 Filipinos saying they approve of it, according to a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia, the results of which were released Monday.

The survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, showed 79 percent of Filipinos are appreciative of President Rodrigo Duterte's push in fighting crime, while only five percent disapprove of it and 16 percent saying they are undecided.

The survey also showed Filipinos are appreciative of the government's response during times of calamities and the protection of overseas Filipino workers' welfare, scoring 77 percent (three percent disapprove and 20 percent undecided) and 71 percent (four percent disapprove and 24 percent undecided), respectively.

The survey said efforts in fighting graft and corruption were appreciated by 70 percent of Filipinos, followed by increasing peace in the country at 69 percent, and stopping the destruction of the environment and enforcing the law regardless of influence at 68 percent.

Only 45 percent of Filipinos said they approve of the government's hand in controlling inflation, which is also the most critical in the survey at 22 percent.

On the other hand, Filipinos were most undecided on the reduction of poverty among Filipinos (36 percent), followed by defense of the country's territorial intergrity (34 percent).

Pulse Asia conducted the survey using face-to-face interviews and has a sampling error margin of +/-3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

Among the headlines that preoccupied Filipinos in the weeks leading to the survey include the filing of impeachment complaint against Duterte and a threat to file a similar complaint Vice President Leni Robredo; the admission of retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas that he took part in the alleged Davao Death Squad killings, and the abduction and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo.

Economic issues are most urgent concerns

Meanwhile, the same survey showed that 43 percent of Filipinos said increasing the pay of workers are their most urgent national concern — down by two points in the December 2016 survey.

Controlling the inflation came second at 41 percent, up by seven points from the 34 percent it scored in the previous survey.

Thirty-nine percent said creating more jobs is the most urgent for them, up by eight points from the December survey.

Fighting graft and corruption in the government, and fighting criminality completed the top five most urgent concerns of Filipinos, scoring 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Other concerns deemed by Filipinos as urgent include: reducing poverty of Filipinos, increasing peace in the country, enforcing the law on all, stopping the destruction and abuse of the environment, controlling fast population growth, and reducing the amount of taxes.

Meanwhile, only eight percent said protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers is the most urgent, followed defending the integrity of Philippine territories against foreigners at six percent.

Preparing to successfully face any kind of terrorism and changing the Constitution scored the least in the Pulse Asia suvery, both scoring only three percent. —KBK, GMA News