91% of Pinoys to welcome 2021 with hope — survey

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and other concerns, 91 percent of Filipinos will face the New Year with hope, the latest Pulse Asia survey revealed.

However, more Filipinos expect their holiday season to be less prosperous this year than last year, the survey, taken from Nov. 23 to Dec. 2, showed.

Hope for a better year is expressed by majorities in each geographic area and socioeconomic grouping, 87 percent to 93 percent and 82 percent to 92 percent, respectively, Pulse Asia said.

Only one percent of adult Filipinos are facing the coming year without hope, while eight percent are ambivalent on the matter.

The survey was based on face-to-face interviews of 2,400 representative adults, 18 years old and above, nationwide.

“These figures are essentially the same as those recorded by Pulse Asia Research in December 2019,” the pollster said in a statement.

Malacañang was not surprised by the results of a poll which found a majority of Filipinos saying that the quality of their lives worsened in the last 12 months, but claimed that things are getting better because of the reopening of the economy.

“Year 2020 has been a challenging year for the Philippines with lockdowns adversely affecting the socioeconomic condition of our people,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement yesterday.

“It is therefore not surprising that the fourth quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations conducted last Nov. 21-25, 2020, showed 62 percent of Filipinos believe that their quality of life got worse in the last twelve months,” he added.

Roque, however, expressed optimism that the Filipinos’ conditions would improve as more businesses are allowed to operate.

“Things are looking up. The economy has reopened, which means more livelihood opportunities have become available,” he said.

A small majority of Filipino adults or 55 percent said there will be no difference in their families’ Christmas celebration now compared to last year.

In particular, 36 percent expect the Christmas season to be as prosperous as last year for their families while 18 percent said otherwise.

For 38 percent of Filipino adults, this year’s holiday season will be less prosperous for their families while only eight percent are looking forward to a more prosperous celebration.

Those who said there will be no difference in their Christmas celebration are 60 percent each in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, 55 percent in the Visayas and 62 percent and 55 percent among those belonging to classes ABC and D, respectively.

In Mindanao and Class E, essentially the same percentages either share this view (41 percent and 48 percent, respectively) or expect a less prosperous holiday season for their families this year (48 percent and 47 percent, respectively).

“During the period December 2019 and November 2020, there is a notable drop in the percentage of Filipino adults who expect a more prosperous holiday season for their families this year relative to a year ago (-40 percentage points),” Pulse Asia said.

“Similar movements occur in all geographic areas (-23 to -46 percentage points) and socioeconomic classes (-30 to -57 percentage points),” it said.

Compared to December 2019, more Filipino adults now expect their current holiday season to be less prosperous than the one they had last year, Pulse Asia said.

“This observation holds true at the national level (+27 percentage points) and across geographic areas (+20 to +40 percentage points) and socioeconomic groupings (+24 to +28 percentage points),” it said. – Alexis Romero