Malacañang on Thursday said it was not surprised by the result of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing a record 83% of Filipinos believe life has gotten worse during the past 12 months, and added that it should have been 100%.

“It should be 100%, because there is COVID-19 and the economy was closed,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during a televised briefing.

“Hindi na kami surprised diyan. It should be 100% kasi minimum two months na complete lockdown tayo. Lahat po tayo nahihirapan, at naiintindihan po ‘yan ng Presidente,” Roque said.

Eighty-three percent of Filipinos believe that their quality of life has worsened in the last 12 months—the “worst trend in survey history,” an SWS survey conducted in May showed.

The SWS survey released on Thursday showed that 10 percent of respondents believe they had the same quality of life (unchanged), while six percent said it got better (gainers).

Conducted from May 4 to 10 on working-age Filipinos amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the SWS Mobile Phone Poll shows 10% of the 4,010 respondents said their life was the same while only 6% said it got better.

The SWS survey showed that the 6% proportion of those who said their life got better is also a new all-time low, breaking the previous record of 9% posted in July 1985.

In mid-March, the government implemented an enhanced community quarantine  (ECQ) in many highly urbanized areas, including Metro Manila.

This banned mass transport and prohibited mass gathering, resulting in work stoppage in many industries.

The lockdown has resulted in over seven million Filipinos losing their jobs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA said that the underemployment rate — the proportion of employed persons wanting additional work — increased to 18.9% from 13.4% in the same period last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic./Stacy Ang