Improving workers’ wages and salaries emerged as the top national concern of adult Filipinos, according to the latest Tugon ng Masa survey conducted by OCTA Research.
Results of the fourth quarter 2025 survey showed that 45% of respondents nationwide cited increasing or improving wages and salaries as their most urgent national issue. By area, the concern was highest in Balance Luzon and the Visayas at 47% each, followed by Mindanao at 42% and the National Capital Region at 41%.
OCTA noted a sharp rise in the share of Filipinos identifying wage increases as an urgent concern. “The share of adult Filipinos citing improving or increasing workers’ wages as an urgent national concern rose sharply in the Fourth Quarter of 2025, marking its steepest increase since March 2024,” the research group said.
Other major national concerns cited in the survey include controlling the rise in prices of basic goods (41%), access to affordable food such as rice, vegetables, and meat (30%), fighting graft and corruption in government (29%), and providing free, quality education (28%).
Meanwhile, health topped the list of urgent personal concerns among adult Filipinos. Sixty-five percent of respondents said their primary personal concern is staying healthy and avoiding illness.
This was followed by finishing schooling or providing education for children (45%), having enough food to eat every day (44%), securing a stable and well-paying job or source of income (39%), and avoiding becoming a victim of serious crime (38%).
Across socioeconomic classes, staying healthy ranked as the top personal concern among 81% of respondents in Class ABC, 66% in Class D, and 71% in Class E.
The survey was conducted from December 3 to 11, 2025 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents. It has a margin of error of ±3% at a 95% confidence level. Subnational estimates for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have margins of error of ±6%, OCTA said.
