Pulse: VP Sara ratings still higher than Marcos Jr’s

MANILA, Philippines — Even with the ongoing impeachment trial against her, Vice President Sara Duterte continues to enjoy much higher trust and approval ratings than President Marcos, a survey for the third quarter conducted by Pulse Asia showed.

The survey conducted from Sept. 17 to 24 found that 29 percent of the respondents trust the President, almost similar to the 28 percent he obtained in a similar survey in July.

Those who distrusted him fell from 51 percent to 48 percent, while undecided respondents hardly changed, from 21 percent to 22 percent.

Marcos had an approval rating of 30 percent, from 29 percent, and a disapproval rating of 49 percent, from 50 percent. Undecided respondents were unchanged at 21 percent.

Unlike Marcos, Duterte retained a majority trust and approval ratings.

Those who said they trust her dropped from 58 percent to 55 percent, while those who distrust her remained at 27 percent. Undecided respondents increased from 16 percent to 19 percent.

In terms of approval, Duterte obtained a rating 54 percent, down from 56 percent. Her disapproval rating also dropped from 29 percent to 27 percent, while undecided respondents increased from 15 percent to 18 percent.

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted amid the ongoing impeachment trial of Duterte at the Senate. It had 2,400 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus two percent.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) gave away P5.16 million worth of medical and burial assistance in 2025 from its own budget, which is more than 99 percent lower than the P820.77 million it distributed in 2024, according to a report by the Commission on Audit (COA).

Based on the OVP’s financial statements attached to COA’s audit report, the agency was able to distribute medical and burial assistance worth P59.936 million in 2025, but this was sourced from donation in cash from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

In the previous years, the OVP distributed P29.93 million cash assistance for medical and burial purposes from the same Pagcor donations.

Funding for the medical and burial assistance program of the OVP was removed in the 2025 national budget after COA flagged unexplained confidential fund expenditures involving millions in a matter of days.

Lawmakers had proposed cutting the funding for the OVP’s social welfare projects as it overlapped with programs of the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The OVP received appropriations totaling P2.448 billion in 2023, P1.898 billion in 2024, and P766.146 million in 2025.  - Daphne Galvez