The Duterte administration will “double its efforts” in highlighting how it serves the public, especially the poor sector, to attain a comfortable life, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Sunday.
This came after the net satisfaction ratings of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet fell to “moderate” levels in the latest Social Weather Stations survey released Saturday.
“Many agencies have made significant strides in their respective areas and fields. The departments under the executive branch will continue to serve the nation and the best interest of our people by bringing comfortable life to disadvantaged and marginalized families, unmindful of the distraction and political noise,” Roque said in a statement.
“We shall therefore work double time in highlighting policies and programs of the current administration that have the most impact to the lives of our countrymen,” he added.
Duterte’s Cabinet saw its rating fall to plus-28 in the latest SWS survey from the plus-38 it posted last December.
The SWS poll was conducted among 1,200 adult respondents from March 23 to 28. The net satisfaction rating is the difference between the percentage of satisfied and dissatisfied respondents while ignoring the undecided.
The declines came came from all areas surveyed by the pollster. It dropped 29 points in Mindanao, seven points in Balance Luzon, two points in Visayas, and a point in Metro Manila.
But the Cabinet enjoyed a double-digit increase in satisfaction ratings among the upper economic classes, SWS noted.
Other parts of the survey noted that Mindanao continued to show huge support for Davao City native Duterte but not quite for his government.
The survey conducted in March showed the President still enjoyed an “excellent” 82% satisfaction rating in Mindanao, allowing him to maintain his “very good” 56% net rating nationwide.
But Mindanaoans surveyed had thumbs down for the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Cabinet, which all saw double-digit declines in the region that pulled down their national numbers as well
The Cabinet fell 29 points in Duterte’s home region, followed by the Senate (26), the SC (21), and the House (12).
The survey was taken when martial law was still in effect in Mindanao owing to the Marawi City terrorist crisis, SWS noted. The extension of military rule until the end of 2018 was announced last December, in the middle of the survey period, and was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
The region also anticipated Congress deliberations on a proposed law that will create the Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as the March survey was held.