MANILA, Philippines – Of the 5 highest ranking government officials, Vice President Leni Robredo and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez got the highest “disapproval” and “distrust” ratings based on the March 2017 Ulat ng Bayan Pulse Asia survey.

Still, the Vice President is among 3 officials – the other two being President Rodrigo Duterte and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III – who got the trust and performance approval of majority of Filipinos.

The survey, conducted from March 15-20 with 1,200 face-to-face interviews, has a margin of error of ± 3 at 95% confidence level.

For geographic areas, the survey has a ± 6% error margin, also at 95% confidence level.

Political events and developments that may have influenced sentiments of respondents include the filing of the first impeachment complaint against Duterte and the Senate hearing where retired Senior Police Officer 3 Arturo Lascañas alleged that Duterte masterminded the Davao Death Squad.

Other major events leading up to the survey are the showing of Robredo’s anti-drug war video message at a UN side event, the arrest of Senator Leila de Lima on drug charges, the suspension and resumption of the police’s involvement in the war on drugs, the approval of the death penalty bill in the House of Representatives, and the murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside the Philippine National Police headquarters, among others.

Disapproval among Class ABC

Sixteen percent of respondents disapproved of Robredo performance – the same ratings she got in the quarterly poll released in December 2016.

Robredo got the highest “disapproval” among Class ABC respondents, from 14% in December 2016 to 29% in March.

In terms of geographic area, the Vice President got the highest disapproval rating in Metro Manila (25%) and Mindanao (18%), where President Rodrigo Duterte hails.

Robredo is followed by Duterte’s ally Alvarez with a consistent disapproval rating of 14% in the last two quarters. 

Alvarez received the highest disapproval numbers in the rest of Luzon, from 15% to 18%, followed by his hometown Mindanao, from 7% to 11%.

More affluent respondents also expressed their disapproval of the House leader. From 11% in December 2016, Class ABC’s disapproval of Alvarez increased 9 percentage points to 20%.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno got lower disapproval ratings, 11% in March from from 12% in December. Sentiment against her, however, rose by 4 points in Mindanao, from 11% to 15%.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III got 8% disapproval, down by 1 point. But Pimentel’s disapproval ratings doubled among Class ABC from 7% to 15% and increased among Class E from 7% to 11%.

President Rodrigo Duterte got higher disapproval ratings in March (7%) than in December (5%). His disapproval numbers increased among all socio-economic groups and geographical areas.

Majority approval

As for approval ratings, Duterte still has the nod of most Filipinos amid controversies against him, with a 78% rating, which represened his steepest decline yet. He got 83% in December 2016.

Robredo follows him with 58% approval rating, 4 points lower than in December.

Pimentel’s approval ratings stayed the same at 55%, while Sereno got 42%, 5 points down.

Alvarez remained to be the least approved public official with a rating of 40%, 3 points down from December.

Distrust, trust ratings

The 3 highest government officials – Duterte, Robredo, and Pimentel – got the trust and nod of majority of Filipinos.

While Duterte’s trust ratings significantly dropped from 83% to 76%, the President remains to be the most trusted public official despite controversies.

He is followed by Robredo with a 56% trust rating, a 2-point decline from her rating in December. Pimentel got 51% while Sereno got 40%.

Alvarez got the lowest trust rating with 37%, slightly higher than December’s 38%.

As for “distrust” ratings, Robredo received the highest at 16%, slightly up from 15% in December 2016.

More respondents from Class ABC expressed “distrust” in her – from 12% in December to 33% in March 2017.

Distrust in the Vice President also went up in Metro Manila by 4 points, from 21% to 25% in March, and 5 points in Mindanao from 13% to 18%.

House Speaker Alvarez follows with a 15% distrust rating, a one-point increase from December. He got the highest distrust rating in his home region Mindanao and in the rest of Luzon.

More Filipinos from the ABC class also expressed distrust in him, from 14% in December to 19% in March.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno got 12% distrust ratings, down from 13% in December.

Senate President Pimentel’s number remained unchanged at 8%, while President Duterte got a slightly higher rating of 5%. – Rappler.com