NCR COVID-19 Survey 2: 68% support return to work amid NCR ECQ extension

MANILA – The results of the second run of the NCR COVID-19 Online Panel Survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia, Inc. show solid support for the controlled return to work of some employees in Metro Manila as the region approaches its sixth week under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).

68.4% of the 1,000 Metro Manila residents aged 18-70 interviewed between April 13-18, 2020 said they approve of the controlled return to work of some employees. 31.6% disapprove.

However, PUBLiCUS Executive Director and spokesperson Mr. Aureli Sinsuat noted that Metro Manila employees would likely not be able to return to work in the couple of weeks as President Duterte announced on Friday morning that the ECQ would be extended in the National Capital Region and other high risk areas until May 15.

“A controlled return to work implies a gradual build-up of employees physically present at workplaces conducting non-essential business. This is unlikely to happen until after May 15 because the second extension of the ECQ in Metro Manila means the restrictions on non-essential businesses will continue to apply,” Sinsuat said.

“The government needs to prepare its game plan for getting non-essential businesses back up-and-running once the ECQ ends. Metro Manila alone accounts for 38% of Philippine GDP. Rebooting the Metro Manila economy will be critical to staving off a national recession,” he added, referencing the PUBLiCUS Freeze & Reboot economic plan for COVID-19 recovery.

NCR COVID-19 Online Panel Survey is an independent non-commissioned tracking survey designed by PUBLiCUS and VOX Opinion Research (VOX). The survey data was processed and analyzed by VOX, the in-house strategic research arm of PUBLiCUS.

The survey aims to gauge public opinion and perceptions on the following key indicators: Living Standards and Needs during the ECQ; National Government Performance; Local Government Performance; Existing/Proposed COVID-19 Policies.

The online fieldwork for the first run (Apr. 2-6, 2020) and the second run (Apr. 13-18, 2020) of the survey was conducted in partnership with Lightspeed Research/Kantar (Singapore). Lightspeed provided an online panel of 1,000 Metro Manila residents aged 18-70 from its pool of 100,000 Philippine panelists. The number of respondents per city was distributed proportionally based on official population data.

Lightspeed is now the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Kantar, a leading firm in the global data industry with a panel reach of 88 million respondents in 90 markets worldwide according to its website.

More information on the purposive sampling methodology and panel selection process of the survey can be found here.

Reference: Mr. Aureli C. Sinsuat, PUBLiCUS Executive Director
Email: acsinsuat@publicusltd.com