Pulse Check: 8 in 10 Filipinos Feel Being Worse Off as COVID Cases Top 150,000

Nearly 8 in 10 Filipinos believe their quality of life got worse in the last 12 months, according to a Social Weather Stations poll. The country, of course, has endured one of the world's longest lockdowns (recently reimposed in some areas for at least 15 days) triggering a recession that underscored job losses and business closers. 

On Friday, total COVID-19 infections reached 153,660 including 6,216 new cases. On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte will decide whether to extend the MECQ, the second strictest set of restrictions or downgrade it one notch to GCQ.

The 79% who considered themselves losers during the July 3 to 6 telephone poll was the second highest compared to the record 83% in May, at the height of the MECQ and the strictest lockdown, ECQ.

Subtracting the 8% who said they gained in the last 12 months, the country's net score of -71 (rounded off, according to the SWS) can be considered "catastrophic." The results of the Qualift of Life survey this year were so low, the bottom category was expanded from "very low" in December to "extremely low" and "catastrophic" in May and July.

These are "extraordinary times," the pollster said. By region, the net scores were also catastrophic, according to the SWS: -75 in the Visayas, -71 in Metro Manila, -74 in Luzon (excluding Metro Manila) and -65 in Mindanao.