88% of Pinoys view coming year with hope – Pulse

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the hardships they faced this year, nearly nine in 10 Filipinos remain optimistic of the coming year, a recent survey by Pulse Asia revealed.

The Pulse Asia poll, taken from Nov. 14 to 20, found 88 percent of Filipinos saying they would face the coming year with hope.

According to Pulse Asia, this was the predominant sentiment in every geographic area and socio-economic class (84 percent to 91 percent and 84 percent to 90 percent, respectively).

Only one percent of Filipinos will face the year ahead without hope, while 11 percent are ambivalent on the matter, the pollster said.

The same survey showed more Filipinos who look forward to a more prosperous Christmas celebration this year than last year.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said the coming Christmas will be more prosperous than last year’s, compared to 22 percent in December 2013.

In contrast, 14 percent said they expect a poorer Christmas for their families this year, down from 24 percent last year.

For 52 percent of Filipinos, their celebration of the coming holidays will be the same as the one they had a year ago – essentially the same as the December 2013’s 54 percent, Pulse Asia said.

This was the majority sentiment in Metro Manila (51 percent), Mindanao (51 percent), and the rest of Luzon (55 percent) as well as in Classes D and E (53 percent and 51 percent, respectively).

The Pulse Asia Research’s November 2014 nationwide survey on the holiday season and the New Year used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.

It has an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Source of hope

Malacañang yesterday said it wanted to become part of the people’s source of hope in the coming year.

“Hope and optimism have always been characteristic of the Filipino people, who, throughout history, have consistently refused to give in to negativity, or to be cowed by challenges,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

He said the Aquino administration itself has been witness to this.

“We are a government borne of our people’s belief that the tide can turn in the Philippines; that good governance can replace an entrenched culture of corruption,” Lacierda said.

He stressed that like what the administration had been doing in the past four and a half years, they would continue to implement reforms in order to honor the enduring optimism of the people.

“In this way, we can all ensure the virtuous cycle of change: a government committed to realizing the hopes of our countrymen, and a people fully engaged in fulfilling their individual roles in nation building,” Lacierda said.  – With Aurea Calica