President Rodrigo Duterte’s trust and approval ratings dropped in September, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey, but the Palace said the figures remain high.
Duterte received a trust rating of 74 percent, 11 points lower from last quarter’s 85 percent.
The poll also showed that 78 percent of the respondents approve of Duterte’s performance, down by seven points from the previous quarter’s 85 percent.
The survey involved face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents and has a ± 2.8 percent error margin.
Conducted from Sept. 16 to 22, the survey came amid the Senate investigation into alleged irregularities in the national penitentiary such as corruption in the implementation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, the purported reselling of illegal drugs seized during police operations, and the resurgence of polio in the country.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo played down the decrease in the President’s trust and approval rating, noting that the figures are still higher than 70 percent.
“Surveys fluctuate depending on when they get them. If it is taken at a time when there are controversies…, it may affect the survey results,” he told reporters in a press briefing.
The approval and trust ratings of Vice President Leni Robredo also fell to 50 percent from 55 percent and 46 percent from 52 percent, respectively.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s ratings also went down and received a 72 percent approval rating from last quarter’s 77, and a 66 percent trust rating versus 73 percent in the previous quarter.
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who will only serve for 15 months under a power-sharing agreement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, received a 64 percent approval rating and a 62 percent trust rating.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, who is set to retire on Oct. 18., enjoyed a minimal increase in his approval rating to 42 percent from 41 percent last quarter. His trust rating went down a notch to 34 percent.
Robredo on Monday vowed to double her efforts to serve the public.
“We take the latest survey results as a challenge to redouble our efforts both in continuing to serve the public and keeping the Filipino people better informed of the work VP Leni is doing,” said Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesperson.
House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Monday welcomed the Pulse Asia survey result indicating 64 percent approval rating of the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Romualdez said this is the first time that Speaker Cayetano has been rated by the Filipino people through the Pulse Asia’s Ulat sa Bayan survey, and “we are collectively proud of our leader’s exemplary trust and approval rating.”
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said the continuing increase in the prices of basic commodities and the administration’s pro-China policy have contributed to the decrease in the President’s trust rating, from 85 percent to 74 percent.
Zarate said the public must be disappointed over the administration’s failure to assert the country’s sovereignty against China, and that the prices of basic commodities have continued to soar.
“These are two of the most compelling reasons for the decline of President Duterte’s ratings. The growing dissatisfaction is bound to happen because of the high prices caused by the TRAIN Law, the ill effects of the Rice Tariffication Law on farmers, the effects of the African swine fever on the hog industry and the massive traffic in Metro Manila and to top it off the continuous trampling of our sovereignty by China,” Bayan Muna said in a statement.
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