Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
As her impeachment looms, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno鈥檚 approval and trust ratings suffered a two-digit drops, the highest among top officials of the country, a Pulse Asia survey revealed Friday.
In the latest Pulse Asia nationwide survey conducted from September 24 to 30, data showed that Sereno鈥檚 approval ratings plunged 13 percentage points鈥攆rom 48 percent in June to 35 percent in September.
Her trust rating, meanwhile, dipped 12 percentage points from 43 to 31 percent in the same period.
The survey was conducted as an impeachment case against Sereno was filed before the House of Representatives.
The huge descent in her ratings was expected given all the 鈥渋ncessant attacks鈥� against her, the chief justice鈥檚 spokesperson, lawyer Josa Deinla said.
READ: Sereno not losing sleep over battles: 鈥業 didn鈥檛 lie, cheat鈥�
鈥淭he incessant attacks and vicious smear campaign against Chief Justice Sereno are expected to affect her net satisfaction ratings,鈥� Deinla said in a text message to .
鈥淔or the past months, she has been publicly vilified to justify attempts to unseat her on the basis of unfounded allegations, which are not even impeachable offenses under the Constitution,鈥� she added.
Last week, the House committee on justice ruled that it found 鈥渟ufficient grounds鈥� to impeach Sereno, even without discussing point-by-point the issues raised against her by lawyer Lorenzo 鈥淟arry鈥� Gadon.
Deinla said that as the country鈥檚 top magistrate, Sereno will continue to 鈥渇ulfill her duties and constitutional mandate regardless of survey results.鈥�
鈥淪he remains confident that when all the facts are presented, the allegations being leveled against her鈥揳ll being falsehoods鈥搘ill ultimately crumble,鈥� she noted.
A separate Social Weather Station survey showed that Sereno鈥檚 net satisfaction ratings also dropped 12 percentage points, from 21 percent in June to 9 percent in September.
The Pulse Asia survey also showed that President Rodrigo Duterte still has the majority of Filipino鈥檚 approval and trust: four out of five of the population continue to approve of and trust the chief executive, despite the string of issues of hurled against him. /idl