Eight in 10 Filipinos say they are satisfied with the way President Rodrigo Duterte does his job.
The President also enjoys a +68 net satisfaction rating, a figure even higher than his previous record of +66 in March 2019 and June 2017.
This is the latest finding by polling firm Social Weather Stations, which conducted the survey among 1,200 Filipinos between June 22 and June 26, a few days before the President crossed the halfway mark in his term.
The survey period also coincided with the controversy over the Palace’s response to the sinking of a Filipino boat by a Chinese vessel. On June 9, Chinese fishermen left 22 Filipinos in the water after the latter’s boat had sunk. This has prompted outrage against the Chinese and frustration among the President’s critics over how he appeared to favor our giant neighbor, much to the detriment of our own fishermen.
Palace officials cheered the survey results. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said that Mr. Duterte only becomes trusted and admired the more his critics hit him with dirt.
“The more the Left assault him with a torrent of false narratives, the greater our people admire him. The uglier the militant groups of the church paint the Chief Executive, the prettier his image becomes. And the more the biased media assault him with negative propaganda, the more the people are enamored with him,” the spokesman said in a statement.
A gushing Panelo said that the unprecedented excellent rating is “a thumbs-up sign that the President is on the right track in his policies and actions of governance.”
Indeed the President’s continued surging popularity is unprecedented. Usually, by the time a president crosses the halfway mark of his or her term, the honeymoon period has long gone. It is no longer an issue of adulation or popularity but of survival, as a result of actions or omissions, or scandals that the leader may be embroiled in.
Evidently, Mr. Duterte is different. From the beginning, he has been a game-changer, upending the carefully plotted political plans of his opponents in 2016 and emerging as the dark horse in the race. He breaks out of the mold of his clean-shaven, elite-educated, proper-speaking, politically correct predecessors.
Fed up with this kind, the people continue to root for Mr. Duterte, who they claim remains effective despite—or because of—the rough edges to his personality.
But the still-surging ratings must be seen as a challenge rather than an opportunity to gloat. It’s a feat, indeed, to enjoy this level of support from the public amid the numerous issues that hound the Duterte administration.
The President and his alter egos must never squander this sacred trust. They must act only in the faithful service of the nation. Satisfaction, after all, is a relative judgment that says people are all right with how the President performs his job—not objective proof that he is doing it as he should be.