US trust rating dips as those China, Russia rise

MANILA, Philippines - The continuing tirades by President Duterte against the US appears to have had an impact on the overall public trust obtained by the superpower and long-time Philippine ally, a survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Conducted from Dec. 3 to 6 and published in BusinessWorld yesterday, the survey also shows China and Russia, which Duterte have cozied up to since assuming office, enjoying significant increases in trust ratings.

While the US continues to enjoy a “very good” rating among Filipinos, SWS noted that its overall net trust rating dropped seven points from +66 (76 percent much trust, 11 percent little trust) in September to +59 (70 percent much trust, 11 percent little trust) in December.

This is the lowest it got since the “good” +35 (52 percent much trust, 17 little trust) it obtained in March 2010.

Net trust rating is obtained by subtracting percentage of those who said that they have little trust from those who said that they have much trust.

SWS classifies net trust ratings of at least +70 as excellent; +50 to +69 as very good; +30 to +49 as good; +10 to +29 as moderate, +9 to -9 as neutral; -10 to -29 as poor; -30 to -49 as bad; -50 to -69 as very bad; as well as -70 and below as execrable.

Meanwhile, the trust ratings of China and Russia have significantly increased.

Overall net trust rating among Filipinos for China soared two grades up from a “bad” -33 (22 percent much trust, 55 percent little trust) in September to a “neutral” +9 (39 percent much trust, 30 percent little trust) in December.

SWS said it was the best rating for China in four years since it obtained a “moderate” +10 in March 2012, a few months before the Panatag Shoal standoff that soured the relations of Manila and Beijing.