President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) and Vice President Sara Duterte. 鈥擮fficial Facebook page of Bongbong Marcos/Lyn Rillon/Inquirer file.
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The approval and trust ratings of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Vice President Sara Duterte, and the two highest congressional leaders declined as more Filipinos expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government had been handling high consumer prices, poverty, unemployment, and corruption, according to the results of Pulse Asia鈥檚 Ulat ng Bayan nationwide survey released on Saturday.
The survey, conducted from Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, showed that the government scored majority approval ratings in only two out of the 14 national issues where its performance was assessed.
These were on its efforts to protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers, which got an approval rating of 60 percent; and its response to the needs of calamity-stricken areas, which got 57 percent.
The issue where it had the lowest approval rating was on controlling inflation, which garnered only 2 percent.
Inflation picked up to 2.5 percent in November from 2.3 percent the previous month after the onslaught of powerful storms hit the food supply, while a weak peso bloated import costs of key items such as oil, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The other issues with low approval ratings were poverty reduction (13 percent), fighting graft and corruption (16 percent), increasing workers鈥� pay (19 percent), addressing involuntary hunger (20 percent), and job creation (23 percent).
Nationwide decline
Marcos鈥� approval rating dropped by 2 percentage points to 48 percent in November, from 50 percent in September.
His trust rating went down by 3 percentage points to 47 percent from 50 percent.
Across the country鈥檚 three major geographical groupings, the President鈥檚 approval rating fell except in Luzon, where it improved from 61 percent to 65 percent.
The most significant decline was in Mindanao, where it dropped to 14 percent from 26 percent. In the Visayas, it went down from 52 to 48.
In the National Capital Region, the drop was only by 1 percentage point, to 51.
Among the socioeconomic classes, his approval rating declined the most among Class E respondents to 35 percent from 47 percent.
However, it improved by 4 percentage points in Class ABC, rising to 39 percent from 35 percent.
Marcos鈥� trust rating also saw the biggest decline in Mindanao, falling to 14 percent from 21 percent, while his trust rating fell the most in Class E to 33 percent from 47 percent.
Bigger slide
Vice President Duterte experienced significant slides in both her approval and trust scores.
Her approval score fell by 10 percentage points from 60 percent to 50 percent, while her trust rating declined by 12 percentage points from 61 percent to 49 percent.
The Vice President鈥檚 approval rating declined in all areas, most significantly in Visayas where it fell 20 percentage points to 51 percent from 71.
Among socioeconomic classes, her approval rating weakened the most among Class D respondents, from 59 percent to 49 percent.
Similar to her approval rating, Duterte鈥檚 trust rating also fell in all areas, with the biggest drop in the Visayas from 74 percent to 47 percent.
Among socioeconomic classes, her trust rating fell the most among Class D, from 59 percent to 47 percent.
The Pulse survey was conducted shortly after the already soured relations between the President and the Vice President deteriorated even further.
In an online press conference on Nov. 22, four days before the survey began, a fuming Duterte spoke of having instructed a person to assassinate Marcos, his wife Liza, and his cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez should an alleged plot to kill her succeed.
Congress leaders
In the same Pulse survey, Senate President Francis Escudero got an approval rating of 53 percent, down by 7 percentage points from 60 percent in September.
Escudero鈥檚 trust rating also dropped by 5 percentage points from 56 percent to 51 percent.
Still, the Senate leader was the only top public official in the survey to maintain majority approval and trust ratings.
Speaker Romualdez experienced a drop in both his approval and trust ratings.
His approval rating fell to 25 percent from 32 percent, while his trust rating saw a significant decrease to 21 percent from 31 percent.
Other concerns
Meanwhile, other national issues where the Marcos administration鈥檚 performance was weighed were as follows:
- defending the integrity of Philippine territory (50 percent approval rating)
- promoting peace (42 percent)
- stopping the destruction and abuse of the environment (40 percent)
- providing assistance to farmers (40 percent)
- enforcing the law on all (35 percent)
- fighting criminality (37 percent)
The survey used face-to-face interviews with 2,400 adult respondents and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points for national estimates, and plus-or-minus 4 percentage points for each geographic area.