A week after he assumed the country鈥檚 top post, President Duterte obtained the trust of nine out of 10 Filipinos, making him one of the most popular Chief Executives to start a six-year term in office, results of a nationwide Pulse Asia survey showed.
The survey, conducted on July 2-8, also found that the majority of Filipinos identified controlling inflation, generating jobs and crafting propoor programs like free education, health and housing as the top three issues that Mr. Duterte should prioritize.
Reducing criminality came in fourth and taking steps to change the Constitution was last among the issues listed by Pulse Asia that the President should address.
Ninety-one percent of 1,200 respondents had 鈥渂ig trust鈥� in Mr. Duterte while practically no one (0.2 percent) said they had small or no trust in him. Eight percent were undecided, according to Pulse Asia.
Sixty-two percent trusted Vice President Leni Robredo.
The survey, the results of which were released on Wednesday, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
Malaca帽ang on Wednesday expressed elation over the results of the Pulse Asia survey.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar thanked the people for giving their 鈥渙verwhelming support鈥� to Mr. Duterte, who was catapulted to power on a promise to end the illegal drugs problem within the first six months of his presidency.
鈥淭his expression of confidence 鈥� shall serve as an inspiration to the Duterte administration to continuously make a real difference and make our people鈥檚 lives better, safer and healthier,鈥� Andanar said in a statement.
He said the 鈥渞ecord high鈥� trust rating was a humbling reminder that the genuine and meaningful change that our people aspire for was already being felt.
鈥淎 position of leadership is often a lonely one,鈥� Andanar added. 鈥淗owever, a servant-leader, as they say, has to take (the) people (not just) where they want to go, but ought to be.鈥�
Across areas, Mr. Duterte obtained an overwhelming majority trust scores in Mindanao (97 percent), Metro Manila (92 percent) and the rest of Luzon and the Visayas (89 percent).
By socioeconomic class, the President also posted majority trust scores among Classes D and E (92 percent) and ABC (89 percent).
A majority also trusted the Vice President in the Visayas (72 percent), Metro Manila (65 percent), Mindanao (61 percent) and the rest of Luzon (58 percent).
Likewise, Robredo recorded majority trust ratings among Classes D
(64 percent), E (61 percent) and ABC (53 percent).
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Robredo overwhelmed
Robredo said she was 鈥渙verwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our fellow Filipinos.鈥�
鈥淔rom 1 percent in the preelection surveys to 35.1 percent and now, a trust rating of 62 percent. Thank you all for your vote of confidence. It is because of you and for you that we are in this position,鈥� Robredo said in a statement.
She won by a slim margin over Ferdinand 鈥淏ongbong鈥� Marcos Jr., the only son and namesake of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in the May 9 national elections.
After initially giving her the cold shoulder, saying he did not want to hurt the feelings of Marcos, Mr. Duterte gave Robredo a Cabinet post by appointing her to head the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
鈥淟et us all work together toward a unified country that continues to move toward development and peace,鈥� Robredo said.
Top economic issues
Of the nine issues listed by Pulse Asia, curbing inflation (chosen by 68 percent), stimulating the economy to create more jobs (56 percent) and crafting propoor programs like free education, health and housing (55 percent) were the top three issues that respondents said should be addressed by Mr. Duterte in his first six months in office.
Reducing criminality was ranked fourth (48 percent), followed by providing loans for small businesses and self-employed (23 percent), preparing a program to address government鈥檚 debt problem (17 percent) and negotiating peace settlements with various armed political groups (17 percent).
Two of Duterte鈥檚 pronounced political agenda were at the bottom of the list: forging a government of national unity to reduce political hostilities (9 percent) and creating concrete measures to change the Constitution (7 percent). Reports from Inquirer Research, Marlon Ramos and Nikko Dizon