IT seldom happens that the two known survey firms — Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia — are showing the same results on a poll question that they presumably asked independently of each other.
The question was asked before the holidays, and it was about the adult Filipinos’ expectations of a happy celebration this Christmas 2022. A total of 73 percent of respondents asked by SWS said they expected a happy Christmas holiday, up from 65 percent in 2021.
The Pulse Asia survey showed that 43 percent of Filipino households expect their family’s holiday celebration will be more prosperous than the previous year, while 42 percent expect their celebration to be no different from what they the previous year, which they described as prosperous. That’s an 85 percent vote for a happy and probably plentiful holiday revelry.
‘This consensus among the adult respondents, affirmed by the two leading survey firms, is most reassuring, for it came alongside predictions of a coming recession in both North America and Europe by 2023.’
Almost half (49%) of the SWS respondents said that Christmas is happier now than in pre-pandemic years, and that 64 percent of them will be attending in-person gatherings, up from 46% in 2021. This result reveals something about the way Filipinos now regard the risks involving the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than half of the respondents desiring face-to-face celebrations. This is in contrast to a big majority (84 percent) who said they will not be traveling even with the long vacation.
With inflation running at 8 percent in November and the number of Filipinos experiencing hunger hardly moved (from 11.6 to 11.3 percent in the third quarter), we find it significant that according to the SWS, 95 percent of Filipinos are welcoming the new year with hope for better times, up from 93 percent in 2021.
Pulse Asia put this number at 92 percent of the respondents, not far from the SWS results. This consensus among the adult respondents, affirmed by the two leading survey firms, is most reassuring, for it came alongside predictions of a coming recession in both North America and Europe by 2023. Such a global economic slowdown, characterized by closure of business establishments and loss of thousands of jobs, will definitely affect the Philippines.
But Filipinos are unfazed by this, Pulse Asia said, quoting its survey results. They affirm hope is the sentiment echoed by 89 percent to 99 percent of Filipinos across geographic areas and by 86 percent to 94 percent in the various socio-economic classes.
Resiliency is the call both aired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte in their separate pronouncements this season, and we have reason to believe that a majority of Filipinos are with them on this.
The Filipinos’ sense of resilience and desire to overcome adversity remain steadfast even in the face of debilitating economic downturns, but we hope our government leaders would take the right steps to mitigate the pain.
