Govt’s education, infra efforts reap approval

A HIGH percentage of Filipinos are satisfied with the government’s education and infrastructure programs, OCTA Research’s third-quarter survey showed.

In the September 30 to October 4 poll, the results of which were released Monday, 72 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the quality of primary and secondary education, and 71 percent were content with the quality of tertiary and technical or vocational education.

The survey found that 72 percent of the 1,200 respondents also approved of the government’s infrastructure thrust.

FILE PHOTO BY JOHN RYAN BALDEMOR 

The Marcos Jr. administration also earned high ratings for protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (69 percent) and providing quality and affordable health care (69 percent).

The government also got above-average ratings for responding to natural disasters (68 percent) and defending the country’s territory (64 percent).

The respondents, however, gave the government a 48 percent dissatisfaction rating when it comes to ensuring food security or access to affordable food, 47 percent for stopping the spread of illegal drugs, 46 percent for controlling population growth, 45 percent for lowering taxes, 43 percent for fighting graft and corruption, 34 percent for reducing hunger, 29 percent for reducing poverty, and 14 percent for managing inflation.

OCTA Research said at least 20 percent of the respondents are dissatisfied with the government’s performance in ensuring food security or access to affordable food, 21 percent for fighting graft and corruption, 22 percent for stopping the spread of illegal drugs in the country, 28 percent for reducing hunger, 31 percent for reducing poverty, and 64 percent for controlling the prices of basic goods or managing inflation.

The research group said the survey found that Filipinos widely disagree when it comes to rating government performance.

“A lower percentage of adult Filipinos in the National Capital Region (NCR) are satisfied with the national government’s performance in creating more jobs (36 percent) and in protecting human rights (36 percent), while a lower percentage of adult Filipinos in Balance Luzon are satisfied with the national government’s performance in stopping the destruction and abuse of our environment (49 percent),” it said.

“However, a higher percentage of adult Filipinos in the NCR were satisfied with the national government’s program on proper and effective response to natural disasters (82 percent) and in providing quality and affordable health care (78 percent),” it added. — Kristina Maralit