SWS on Philippine trust: +66 for US, -33 for China

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos trust the United States far more than China, according to results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, despite President Duterte’s cozying up to Beijing and his repeated rants against the US.

The survey, conducted from Sept. 24 to 27, showed the US got the best net score among seven countries tested for public trust, posting a “very good” +66 in September and China getting a -33, lower than the -24 in June.

Meanwhile, more than half of Filipinos continued to express “little trust” in China despite Duterte’s efforts to improve relations with Beijing.

Trust in the US, however, was six points lower than June’s “excellent” +72.

SWS said that the US has been in positive territory since it first surveyed the country in December 1994. Its score has ranged since then from a “moderate” +18 in May 2005 to an “excellent” +82 in December 2013, and has been above +60 since June 2010.

The same poll found 55 percent of Filipinos having “little trust” and 22 percent having “much trust” in China.

The latest figures yielded a “bad” -33 net trust in China, down nine points from the “poor” -24 recorded in June this year.

About two in 10 or 19 percent of 1,200 respondents nationwide, meanwhile, were undecided on the matter.

The results of the latest SWS poll were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday, as Duterte arrived in Beijing for a four-day state visit.

The President is expected to discuss with the Chinese government the issues of agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure, tourism and the government’s anti-drug campaign.

In July, an international arbitral tribunal – acting on a case filed by Manila – invalidated China’s massive maritime claim in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea and upheld Manila’s maritime entitlements.

The SWS noted that China’s net trust rating has been positive in only seven of 40 surveys since the pollster first included it in August 1994.

Its trust rating reached a “moderate” +17 in June 2010 and “bad” -46 in September 2015.

Duterte has repeatedly launched tirades against the US, the European Union and the United Nations for criticizing his brutal war against illegal drugs.

The Philippines’ two other close economic and strategic partners – Australia and Japan – bagged “good” ratings from Filipinos.

Australia obtained a net trust rating of +47 (62 percent “much trust,” 15 percent “little trust,”) steady from June’s similarly “good” +49.

Japan, on the other hand, obtained a net trust score of +34 (56 percent “much trust,” 21 percent “little trust,” rounded off) in September – 14 points and one grade higher than April’s “moderate” +20.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide and has sampling error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.

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