SWS: Senate gets ‘very good’ Q4 satisfaction rating; House, SC, Cabinet stay ‘good’

MANILA, Philippines — Public satisfaction with top government institutions under President Rodrigo Duterte settled in the “good” to “very good” territories in the fourth quarter of 2018, with the Senate registering the highest score.

The Social Weather Stations survey, conducted from December 16 to 19, showed that 71 percent of the 1,440 respondents were satisfied with the performance of the Senate. Only 13 percent expressed dissatisfaction.

This yielded a net satisfaction score of “very good” +58—up by 10 points from “good” +48 in the third quarter.

The upper chamber was the only key government institution that recorded a “very good” satisfaction during the last quarter of 2018.

SWS noted that the fourth quarter figure was the highest since the “very good” +67 in August 2012.

The 10-point rise in the overall net satisfaction with the Senate was attributed to increases in Metro Manila (from “good” +34 to “very good” +57), Visayas (“good” +48 to “very good” +61), Mindanao (from “very good” +51 to “very good” +60) and Balance Luzon (from “very good” +50 to “very good” 56).

Sen. Vicente "Tito" Sotto III has been Senate president since May 2018.

‘Good’ for House, SC, Cabinet

The House of Representatives’ net satisfaction rating stayed “good”—up by four points from +36 in September to +40 in December.

The polling firm noted this was the highest since the “good” +42 in June 2016.

Fifty-seven percent said they were satisfied with the performance of the lower chamber, while 17 percent were not.

The Supreme Court also retained its “good” rating—a six point improvement from +31 in September to +37 in December.

Fifty-four percent expressed satisfaction with the performance of the country’s top court, while 17 percent expressed dissatisfaction.

Duterte’s Cabinet also earned a “good” +35 rating after posting a three-point increase. Fifty-two percent were satisfied, while 17 percent were not.

The survey has sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao