Eighty-two percent of Filipinos thought their quality of life dropped in the past 12 months, results of a nationwide survey released on Thursday showed.
Of the 1,249 adult Filipinos who participated in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) quality-of-life survey, only 6 percent believed their lives improved over the past year. Eleven percent saw no change in their quality of life.
The SWS said the outcome of the poll, which was conducted from Sept. 17 to 20, was among the “worst trends in survey history.”
The -76 net gain (percentage of those who experienced improvement minus the percentage of those who suffered a drop in quality of life) of the September 2020 survey fell under the “catastrophic” category of the pollster.
The only other instances quality-of-life numbers in the country fell under the “catastrophic” category was in July 2020 and during rice and oil price hikes in June 2008.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said that while the poll showed discouraging results, it was only proof of the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Nalulungkot tayo diyan ‘no, pero iyan naman po ay dahil sa pandemya ‘no. So tingin ko naman po from now on bubuti na po ang buhay natin, palabas na po ang bakuna at natututo na rin tayong mabuhay bagama’t nandiyan ang Covid-19,” he said in a virtual briefing.
The country’s health department reported 1,594 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, which brought the national total to 389,725. John Ezekiel J. Hirro