PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte’s performance rating climbed to 91% as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, a Pulse Asia survey revealed on Monday, October 5.
The pollster’s Ulat ng Bayan Nationwide Survey, conducted from September 14 to 20, reported that 91% of Filipinos approved of Duterte’s performance.
Meanwhile, 5% said disapproved and 5% were undecided.
Duterte’s performance rating is four points higher than the 87% he received in December 2019.
According to Pulse Asia, Duterte enjoyed majority approval ratings across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, rising from 88 to 97% and 88 to 95%, respectively.
For Duterte’s trust rating, 91% of the respondents said they have “big trust” in the president, while 3% have “small or no trust” and 6% were undecided.
“Trust in President Duterte becomes more notable between December 2019 and September 2020 not only at the national level (+8 percentage points) but also in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon (+12 to +14 percentage points),” said Pulse Asia.
Vice President Leni Robredo received second to the lowest performance and trust ratings among the five top national officials in the country — at 57% and 50%, respectively.
The survey found that 57% of Filipinos approved of the opposition leader’s performance, a point lower than the 58% she received in December. Meanwhile, 22% disapproved and 21% were undecided.
Robredo’s trust rating also suffered a three-point drop from December’s 53% to September’s 50%. Twenty two percent of the respondents said they don’t trust her while 28% were undecided.
Malacañang, for its part, welcomed Duterte’s high ratings.
“Nagpapasalamat po kami sa taong-bayan dahil sa pinakabagong survey ng Pulse Asia, binigyan po ng 91 percent trust rating si Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte at 91 percent din sa performance rating (We thank the public because in the latest Pulse Asia survey, the president received a 91% trust rating and 91% performance rating),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
“Ang pangako po talaga ng Presidente gagawin niya ang lahat para makabangon po tayo sa pandemiyang ito at isasantabi po talaga niya ang politika (The president’s promise is he will do everything to recover from the pandemic and set aside politics),” he added.
Roque also took a swipe at Robredo’s ratings, telling her to stop politicking during a global health crisis to boost her ratings.
“Madam VP, mukhang tama ang aking sinabi: Ayaw ‘ata ng Pilipino na namumulitika sa panahon ng pandemya (Madam VP, it seems that my statement is right: The Filipinos do not like politicking during a pandemic),” the spokesman said.
“Subukan po nating itigil ang pulitika, baka po tumaas nang mataas sa 50 percent ang trust rating at mataas pa po sa 57 percent ang performance rating (Let’s try to stop from politicking, maybe will rise higher than 50% and your performance rating will be more than 57%),” he added.
For the rest of the national officials’ ratings, Senate President Tito Sotto scored 84% approval rating and 79% trust rating; House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano received 70% approval rating and 67% trust rating; and Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta had 44% approval rating and 39% trust rating.
“The performance ratings of the Congress and the Supreme Court are nearly constant during the period December 2019 to September 2020 both at the national level and across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings,” Pulse Asia said.
The survey is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a ±2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.
