The administration’s performance rating dipped to 60 percent in the second quarter of the year from, down from 62 percent in the first quarter and 64 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, the latest Pahayag survey conducted by Publicus Asia Inc. showed.
Vice President Sara Duterte, who also serves as the Education secretary, emerged as the most approved Cabinet member, garnering a favorable rating of 59 percent. Following closely behind, President Marcos, in his role as the Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary, received a 49 percent approval rating.
Other Cabinet members and their respective approval ratings are as follows: Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Sec. Rex Gatchalian (47 percent), Department of Finance (DOF) Sec. Benjamin Diokno (46 percent), Department of Health (DOH) OIC Rosario Vergeire (45 percent), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Sec. Susan Ople (44 percent), Department of Tourism (DOT) Sec. Ma. Esperanza Christina Frasco (43 percent), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Benjamin Abalos (42 percent), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Sec. Renato Solidum (42 percent), and Department of National Defense (DND) OIC Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez (41 percent).
President Marcos’ agreement rating as DA Secretary stands at 57 percent, slightly higher than the previous quarter’s rating of 56 percent. An overwhelming 60 percent of respondents identified inflation as the most pressing national issue affecting the overall performance of the President.
On the other hand, Vice President Sara’s agreement rating as Education Secretary remained steady at 66 percent. The survey also indicated the following issues where respondents showed agreement: Mandatory ROTC (26 percent), Intelligence and confidential funds for DepEd (24 percent), and the Proposed new curriculum offering students the choice of enrolling in two additional years of pre-university study to prepare them for college (24 percent).
The Pahayag 2023 Second Quarter Survey is an independent and non-commissioned survey conducted by Publicus Asia Inc. between June 7 and 12, 2023. It is a nationwide purposive survey with 1,500 respondents randomly drawn from a market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with a multinational presence.
Meanwhile, a think tank gave the Marcos administration a barely passing grade days before the President is to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The Center for People Empowerment in Governance gave the administration a grade of 5 out of 10 because of its apparent lack of urgency.
“We will award President Marcos during his first year a rating of 5, which is barely passing, mainly because there is a failure in response to address our most urgent issues,” said Dr. Remerio Rivera, chairman of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance.
Temerio criticized the President for having failed to appoint secretaries earlier than required to resolve problems in the departments of Health, National Defense, and Agriculture.
“There’s nothing wrong with appointing technocrats. What Marcos Jr. did is to take a page literally out of his father’s approach to governance by appointing many of the most experienced technocrats,” he said.
Temerio also criticized Marco’s strong fixation on rebranding the family’s image through revamping projects associated with his late father as well as the rebranding of “Bagong Pilipinas”.
“Marcos from the very start has already started to negotiate a careful balance, one one hand the legacy of his father and on the other, the Duterte legacy for the simple reason that he owes a lot of his victory to the support of the Duterte family,” he said.
Among these projects, the President has adapted his father’s Kadiwa rolling-store system which intends to lower rice prices and help tame inflation by buying directly from suppliers.
The CenPEG chief also criticized technocrats for having failed their test by supporting the Maharlika Investment Fund.