Nearly half of Filipino consumers are pushing back against the traditional narrative of Filipino resilience, as rising living costs and financial pressures drive households to borrow for basic needs and scale back on leisure, according to a study by communications agencies Organic Intelligence and GUGMA PR.

The study, “Pinoy, Kaya Pa Ba? Dissecting Filipino Resilience,” found that 48% of respondents rejected the romanticized notion of Filipino resilience. It also showed that 46% had taken out a loan within the past one to two months, and that 42% of all respondents had borrowed to cover essential expenses.

The findings point to mounting financial and emotional strain among Filipino consumers. Some 45% of respondents said inflation had left them emotionally and behaviorally drained to the point of losing the drive to get ahead.

“The data shows consumers don’t want emotional validation right now. They want brands to be on their side through tangible relief,” GUGMA PR Chief Storyteller Gibby Gorres said on Friday.

“If your campaign is just praising their grit without offering actual value, you are going to sound completely tone-deaf,” he added.

The study also found that 44% of respondents lacked enough savings to cover three months without work, even as 69% maintained an optimistic outlook on their financial situation. Taken together, the recent borrowing and the thin savings cushion point to households covering day-to-day costs on credit with limited room to absorb further price pressures.

Rejection of the resilience narrative was more pronounced among younger respondents, reaching 64% among those aged 18 to 24. By region, the figure stood at 59% in Mindanao and 56% in the Visayas, compared with 38% in Metro Manila.

The findings were based on a 15-minute online survey of 800 Filipinos aged 18 to 65 from urban areas nationwide, conducted in May 2026. The study applied demographic weighting but cautioned that its results may not fully reflect the views of rural Filipinos and people with limited internet access.

Speaking at the study’s launch in Quezon City, Organic Intelligence Director for Development Communication and Communication Design Jason Ligot said institutions should stop placing the burden of coping with economic hardship on households.

“For duty bearers and public institutions, messaging can no longer shift the burden of survival onto the public. Celebrating resilience has to be replaced with demonstrating accountability, showing responsiveness and communicating the concrete actions being taken to ease the burden,” Mr. Ligot said.

“Dignity-first communication means acknowledging that extreme resilience is often a forced response to institutional failure,” he added.

Financial pressures are also forcing consumers to cut back on discretionary spending, the study found. Some 81% of respondents said they were attending concerts and live shows, 78% were traveling internationally less, and 75% were going to cinemas less often, while 68% reported dining out less frequently. The pullback spans leisure categories — live entertainment, international travel, cinema and dining — where businesses depend on households having money to spare after essentials.

About 23% of respondents said they were willing to give up anything if doing so would help them survive.

When it came to brands, consumers said tangible financial relief mattered more than emotional messaging. A price freeze was the measure most frequently cited as a sign that a brand was on their side, at 27%, followed by smaller retail pack sizes at 16%, free shipping at 14%, promotional bundles at 12% and loyalty rewards for essential goods at 11%.

Confidence in official support was limited: only 35% of respondents were confident the Philippine government could shield them from the effects of the conflict in the Middle East, while 28% said they felt supported by the government amid the crisis.

Despite these pressures, the study recorded a national Resilience Index score of 82 out of 100. Its authors cautioned, however, that the high score should not be taken as evidence that households are thriving, since resilience may reflect the need to adapt to persistent hardship.

The study recommended addressing the structural causes of household vulnerability, investing in accessible public spaces, improving financial literacy and encouraging businesses to provide more responsive support to the communities they serve.

It argued that resilience should not be used as a substitute for institutional support, emphasizing the need to improve the conditions that allow Filipinos to recover from economic shocks rather than simply endure them. Whether institutions and businesses respond with the concrete relief consumers ranked — price freezes, smaller pack sizes and similar measures — rather than resilience-themed messaging is the shift the study is calling for. — Kaizzer Angela Marie V. Manuba