Dissatisfaction over inflation
The results of the first quarter survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) are damning for the Marcos administration, which is now on its final stretch as the 2028 national elections loom.
Only 32 percent of those surveyed from March 24-31—or about one of three Filipinos—said they were satisfied with the government’s performance, falling from 46 percent in the previous survey conducted in November 2025.
More tellingly, the dissatisfaction rating climbed to 46 percent from 32 percent with 21 percent undecided.
The Marcos administration thus ended up with final rating to a “poor” -13, dropping precipitously from the “moderate” +14 in the November 2025 survey.
This was not just the lowest grade chalked up during his administration but also the worst score recorded by any administration over the last 16 years or since the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration in 2010, which was confronted then with charges of corruption and a brutal election campaign.
This rating mirrors the findings of the earlier survey that showed a further deterioration in President Marcos’ net satisfaction rating to -15 in March from -3 in November 2025.
Financial resilience
This time around, Filipinos’ collective fury has been mainly directed at the government’s perceived inability to contain inflation—the rise in the prices of basic goods and services that a typical household purchases.
The surge in food prices, transport, and utility costs have weakened their spending power, especially as wages have remained stagnant, a sentiment shared by respondents across regions, genders, ages and educational background.
Sun Life’s Financial Resilience Index 2026 indeed showed that high inflation has weakened the financial resilience of Filipino households, as rising living costs have eroded their savings and rendered more of them unable to plan more than five years ahead and cope with emergencies.
The survey showed that almost all of the Filipino respondents—or 95 percent—said inflation that had shot up to more than a three-year high of 7.2 percent in April had made it more difficult for them to cover their monthly expenses.
Combine this with the delay in the prosecution of those involved in the massive flood control corruption scandal and what looks like failure to ensure that oil companies do not take advantage of the Middle East crisis to jack up oil prices at the pump. The result—the dismal ratings of the Marcos administration’s performance.
Multiple crises
The utter dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of these gut issues more than offset significant gains in other areas of governance, such as in improving the quality of education, job generation, housing, developing science and technology, and helping the poor with various types of aid.
This should drive home the point that amid multiple crises on the domestic and foreign fronts, what Filipinos want are actions on the most basic issues of affordability of commodities as well as addressing the massive corruption in government infrastructure projects.
The negative verdict on the Marcos administration going into the remaining years of its term should compel Mr. Marcos and his lieutenants into delivering decisive, effective, and sweeping actions in these fundamental areas, if it wants to salvage its report card.
Malacañang said the survey results “will help us improve even more.” But there is no time to waste.
What the people demand are policy actions that will make an actual difference in their lives today, and not far off into the future considering that Filipinos have been saying that inflation was their top concern for years, not just now when the Middle East crisis caused an oil shock.
To recall, Mr. Marcos formed a high-level, interagency committee to focus on inflation as early as 2023 so where are the results?
A nagging problem
The administration cannot conveniently blame the Middle East crisis and the spike in oil crisis as the sole reasons for the high prices and its seeming inability to rein in price hikes when rising living costs has been a nagging problem since it came into office.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is doing its part to tame inflation by hiking interest rates and thus make loans or credit more expensive. The downside, however, is that the cure may end up becoming more deadly than the inflation disease as it comes at a time when the Philippine economy is struggling to grow, leaving the Philippines under stagflation characterized by slow growth and high inflation.
Policymakers and analysts can quibble over the technicalities that define stagflation but these are lost on Filipino citizens who are absolutely sure of one thing—everything has become more expensive and they are struggling to make ends meet.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan likewise warned that the Philippines will not achieve higher growth or poverty reduction if it fails to control inflation.
The imperative on the Marcos administration cannot be any clearer: solve inflation and do it fast. Otherwise, history would not be so kind to Mr. Marcos.
