PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has maintained his majority trust and approval ratings, which remain at an all-time high, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey which also showed Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno getting the highest disapproval and distrust rating in a survey on top government officials.
Duterte’s trust and approval ratings still remain afloat with an 80 percent approval rating and trust rating of 82 percent, according to the latest Fourth Quarter 2017 Ulat ng Bayan survey conducted from Dec. 10 to 15 and 17.
Filipinos are least inclined to disapprove of and distrust Duterte, at 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
Duterte’s scores were only slightly higher than those received by his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, around the same time, Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes said.
Meanwhile, administration lawmakers welcomed Duterte’s consistently high trust and approval ratings.
Reps. Raneo Abu of Batangas City, LRay Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, Rodolfo Albano of Isabela and Gus Tambunting of Parañaque City said the survey result affirmed the President’s strong political will and no-nonsense style of governance.
“President Duterte’s consistently high trust and approval ratings was an affirmation of his good governance and strong political will to address the country’s pressing problems, such as poverty and corruption,” Abu said.
In the case of Sereno, currently facing impeachment woes—her disapproval and distrust ratings were highest among top government officials, at 26 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
Ambivalence remains as the plurality sentiment toward Sereno’s performance at 40 percent, while practically the same percentages of Filipinos either distrust her or express indecision on the matter of trusting or distrusting her (33 percent versus 38 percent).
Vice President Leni Robredo and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III also continue to enjoy majority ratings in the last quarter of 2017.
Robredo’s approval rating is at 59 percent, while her trust ratings is at 58 percent.
Pimentel, meanwhile, received an approval rating of 57 percent, while his trust rating is at 53 percent.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, on the other hand, received almost the same approval and indecision ratings, at 42 percent and 37 percent, respectively; while his indecision is the prevalent sentiment on the level of trust of Filipinos, at 43 percent compared to 37 percent trust.
In a television interview, Holmes said indecision as the prevalent sentiment for the performance and trust ratings of the House Speaker and the Chief Justice were traditionally higher than the other top government officials, since they were not as “nationally prominent.”
The slide in Sereno’s numbers may continue “until such time that the Chief Justice would be able to present her own side” in the ongoing impeachment hearings against her.
“Much of what has been presented in the Committee on Justice have come from both the complainant…there have also been testimonies from justices of the Supreme Court, which do not necessarily put the Chief Justice in a good light,” Holmes told ANC.
“As the committee hearings proceed, once the side of the Chief Justice, once the evidences (sic) in support of the Chief Justice would be presented, this might tick the balance in favor of the Chief Justice,” he added.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, meanwhile, welcomed the release of the latest survey, saying this showed “that our people are aware of and recognized the significant strides that the President undertook in his one year and a half month in office.”
“We assure our people that he will continue to discharge his duties with the nation’s interest foremost in his mind,” Roque said in a Palace news briefing Monday.
“With that, we call on everyone to put this appreciation into action by standing as one and helping the government as we continue to address the problem of poverty, illegal drugs, criminality and corruption,” he added.
The latest survey, fielded among 1,200 respondents, had sampling error margins of ±3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
Abu, a deputy speaker, said the survey results showed an overwhelming majority of the Filipino people supported Duterte’s advocacies and no-nonsense policies despite criticisms against him and his administration.
Albano said the recent survey result indicated the Filipino people’s trust and confidence in the Duterte administration.
“The survey results reflect the growing affirmation of the public’s full trust and confidence to the President and to what has been doing by his administration for the Filipino people,” Albano, majority leader for the House contingent’s Commission on Appointments, said.
Albano also said the President being “natural” and “what you see is what you get” personality made him lovable to the Filipino people.
Tambunting said “the President’s consistent high rating just shows that despite his controversial means, his policies are welcomed by majority of Filipinos and that they trust that he is doing the right thing.”
“While there is always space for constructive criticism, his critics should focus more on the substance of the policy rather than his way of doing things. On the other hand, the President should use this overwhelming support by majority of our countrymen to continue what he has started which is to push for more reform that challenges traditional politics and pushes the interest of the common man, instead of the other already rich minority–the oligarchs, who control our economy,” Tambunting, chairman of the House committee on games and amusement, said.
Villafuerte said Duterte would continue to sustain in 2018 the high public satisfaction ratings he had received in the latest tracking poll as a result of his no-nonsense campaign against official corruption, his concrete, well-planned anti-poverty initiatives, and his game-changing move to shift the country’s foreign policy focus to Asia.
“Despite what a noisy few have been saying against him, it cannot be denied that Mr. Duterte has indeed been instrumental in bringing about real positive change among us Filipinos—as what he had promised during the presidential campaign,” Villafuerte said.
“His consistently high ratings in opinion surveys by such highly credible pollsters as SWS and Pulse Asia illustrate that most Filipinos welcome and embrace his non-traditional, no-nonsense type of leadership. Most Filipinos appreciate the fact that he acts swiftly and decisively.”
But Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, an opposition stalwart, derided Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar’s boasting that Duterte had accomplished his campaign promises, except for the pending shift to federalism.
“It is utter miscommunication and disconnect for Andanar to assert that that the problems on poverty, the drug menace, corruption and peace and order have been solved,” Lagman said.
“Andanar failed to disclose any data that the annual nationwide incidence of poverty of 21.6 percent in 2015 has been reduced to a tolerable level during the first year and a half of the Duterte administration,” he added.