MANY Filipinos support President Rodrigo Duterte even though his trust and approval ratings dropped in the first quarter of 2017, the latest Pulse Asia survey released Wednesday revealed.
The first quarter Pulso ng Bayan survey conducted among 1,200 respondents showed Duterte’s trust ratings slipped to 76 percent, a significant seven-point drop from the 83 percent in December 2016.
Duterte’s performance ratings also slipped by five percentage points to 78 percent in March from the 83 percent he obtained in December last year.
Disapproval and distrust ratings of the President were set at seven percent and five percent, respectively, while indecision toward his performance and trustworthiness was expressed by 15 percent and 18 percent of respondents, respectively.
“Approval and trust continue to be the predominant sentiments toward President Rodrigo R. Duterte in March 2017; public assessment of the President’s performance and trustworthiness remains generally unchanged between December 2016 and March 2017, with the exception of the seven-percentage point decline in his national trust score,” the opinion polling firm said in a statement.
Duterte’s trust and approval ratings remained high in his home region, Mindanao, at 88 percent and 90 percent, respectively, while he obtained the lowest trust and approval scores in Balance Luzon and the National Capital Region.
“Meanwhile, ambivalence concerning the President’s work and trustworthiness is most marked in the rest of Luzon [20 percent and 27 percent, respectively] and least pronounced in Mindanao [nine percent and seven percent, respectively].
Indecision towards Duterte’s performance in Class ABC was recorded highest at 9 percent Pulse Asia said.
The survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, has a ± three percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.
Malacañang blamed the significant drop in Duterte’s trust and approval ratings to the “seemingly orchestrated events” organized by the administration’s critics to dampen support for the President.
Still, the high approval rating overall showed that the majority of Filipinos appreciate Duterte’s decisiveness, said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella.
During the survey period, a party-list lawmaker filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte. At the Senate, a self-confessed but perjured assassin tagged Duterte as the leader of the Davao Death Squad when he was still Davao City mayor; human rights groups attacked the administration’s anti-drug campaign; and Vice President Leni Robredo issued a video message attacking the administration’s war on drugs that was to be shown at a UN meeting.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said the drop in the performance and trust rating of President Duterte was insignificant and did not reflect the true sentiment of the people.
He said the decline was “a natural pattern for any president” who had to make difficult and unpopular decisions for the sake of the people’s welfare and the national interest.
Reps. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela and Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao de Norte said the decline was a temporary setback.
“The fluctuation in the results are normal. But even though it has gone down by a few percentage points, the majority of the people still trust him,” Barbers said.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the drop in President Duterte’s performance and trust ratings was expected.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin said the decline was “the law of gravity working.”
“What goes up must come down especially when the [extra judicial killings] target the poor most. Poverty remains the biggest problem not drugs. Unemployment, inflation, lack of livelihoods, insecure jobs afflict the poor now more than ever,” Villarin said.
“The upper and middle class have nothing to lose in the war against drugs. Their gain from feeling secure will be fleeting as poverty deepens. With corruption seeping in Duterte’s government and rearing its ugly head, people will now see the true nature of a government built on sand. Lacking in values and principles it is now imploding,” Villarin added, noting that “change has come but not the way our society values it.”
Liberal Party president Senator Francis Pangilinan acknowledged that all presidents before Duterte also experienced very high trust ratings at the start of their terms and eventually these ratings all dipped so there is really nothing unusual about the seven-point drop.
“His ratings remain high and I hope he uses his high trust ratings to address the main concerns of our citizens which are to address the rising prices of goods, create better paying jobs, and improve incomes,” added Pangilinan.
The President’s critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, said he was encouraged by Duterte’s declining ratings.
“By May, we expect it to go [down] further,” also said Trillanes, a vocal critic of the President.
But Senator Panfilo Lacson said it was not unusual for the trust and performance ratings of any head of state to slide over the course of time.
“But if the drop continues in big numbers in the months to come and consistently at that, particularly in his second year in office, if I were him, I would sit down with trusted advisers to assess and make some adjustments if necessary, not only in terms policies and actual implementation of those policies but more so in my public pronouncements,” Lacson said in a text message.
“At the end of the day, rightly or wrongly, a leader should somehow adopt to what the people want or demand of him to do to serve them if he wants to succeed. Needless to say, the support of the people he serves is one indispensable element in governance,” Lacson added.
Senator Richard Gordon, a staunch ally of Duterte, said the survey could still change but it should serve as a reminder to the President that he should maintain the rule of law.