Despite most Filipinos wanting immediate action from the government on the rising food prices amid the ongoing crisis, their toughness remains evident, as most maintain their optimism, two separate surveys released yesterday showed.

Nearly half of Filipinos in a Pulse Asia poll want to see President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. take a direct hand in addressing the rising food costs.

The survey commissioned by Stratbase Institute was conducted from 27 February to 2 March and found that 41 percent of respondents cited lowering food prices as the top priority, outpacing calls for anti-corruption measures (26 percent) and jobs creation (24 percent).

“While corruption remains an important issue, ordinary citizens are now more focused on the immediate economic pressures, including food prices and income stability,” Stratbase president Victor Andres Manhit said.

The call for the government to tackle the rising food costs stemmed from the rising inflation that continues to strain household budgets.

The headline or overall inflation rate has been consistently accelerating, from 1.8 percent in December 2025 to two percent last January and 2.4 percent in February, a 13-month high.

The drivers of the February price uptick are the faster rises in food and non-alcoholic beverages and in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which together contributed less than 4.8 percent.

Optimism remains

Meanwhile, the most recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, released on Friday, showed that 33 percent of respondents considered themselves “very happy” while 50 percent described themselves as “fairly happy.”

The data came from a survey conducted from 24 to 30 November last year, involving 1,200 adult Filipinos interviewed face-to-face, with 300 respondents each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Respondents were asked: “If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are on the whole?”

The highest share of “very happy” respondents came from the Visayas at 40 percent, followed by Mindanao at 34 percent and Luzon at 32 percent. The National Capital Region recorded the lowest at 24 percent.

In terms of educational background, college graduates posted the highest proportion of “very happy” responses at 41 percent, followed by senior high school graduates at 34 percent, elementary graduates at 31 percent, and elementary undergraduates at 27 percent.

The highest figures were from Metro Manila and Mindanao at 52 percent, followed by Balance Luzon and the Visayas at 49 percent.

About 15 percent said they were “not very happy,” with the highest proportion from Metro Manila at 21 percent, followed by Balance Luzon at 17 percent, Mindanao at 12 percent, and the Visayas at eight percent.

For those who said they were “not at all happy,” Metro Manila and the Visayas both recorded the highest at three percent, followed by Balance Luzon and Mindanao at two percent.

In the latest global survey, the Philippines ranked 57th out of 143 countries in the World Happiness Report, down four spots from last year’s 53rd place.

Key indicators in the ranking included Gross Domestic Product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and low perception of corruption.