MANILA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Higher prices of goods and services remain Filipinos' top urgent concern, according to a nationwide survey by an independent polling firm released Friday.

In a survey of 1,200 adult Filipinos conducted from March 6 to 10, the pollster Pulse Asia said that 70 percent of them considered controlling inflation as their most urgent concern.

"The need to control the spiraling prices of basic commodities is the only national concern (out of the 17 included in the survey) considered urgent by most adults in the country as well as across geographic areas and socio-economic classes," the survey showed.

Year-on-year inflation in the Philippines rose to 3.7 percent in March due to higher food prices, including rice and meat, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Friday.

Increasing workers' pay came the second place, with 36 percent of the respondents expressing their concern.

However, defending national territorial integrity and promoting peace were among the least concerns for Filipinos, with 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Only 1 percent of the respondents said they regard changing the constitution as a national concern.

According to the same survey, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has experienced a significant downward trend for his performance ratings, as his approval rating went down to 55 percent from 68 percent in December 2023.

In terms of approval ratings in different geographic areas, the president suffered the biggest slide in his approval ratings in Mindanao as he only scored 40 percent compared with his December rating of 62 percent. His ratings also dropped in Metro Manila and Visayas regions. Enditem

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