Palace: Duterte’s higher ratings repudiate critics

MANILA, Philippines — The survey indicating that President Duterte got higher satisfaction ratings in the first quarter was a repudiation of his critics who are “deaf” to the voice of a majority of Filipinos, Malacañang said yesterday.

A nationwide Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll conducted from March 28 to 31 suggested that eight out of 10 Filipinos or 79 percent were satisfied with Duterte’s performance, while only 13 percent are dissatisfied for a “very good” net satisfaction score of +66.

The President’s net satisfaction rating in March was six percentage points higher than the +60 recorded last December.

Data for the non-commissioned survey were obtained through face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults. The poll had sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points for national percentages.

“The message of the survey is crystal clear. The more the critics and detractors malign (President Duterte), the higher the rating he gets,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.  

“These political adversaries are being swallowed by their own hubris. Survey after survey they are being repudiated. They appear to be ensconced if not entangled in their own web of lies that they cannot unshackle themselves from it,” he added. 

Critics have been accusing Duterte of waging a crackdown against crime that condones extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, a claim that has been repeatedly denied by the President.

Duterte has also been accused of being a misogynist, a claim that his officials said is repudiated by the President’s pro-women programs when he was mayor of Davao City. 

Panelo accused the media of highlighting negative developments and not giving enough attention to Duterte’s achievements. He claimed a majority of Filipinos continue to believe in the President despite the negative stories about his administration. 

Critics and members of the opposition, he said, “have been deaf to the voice of a great majority of our people and blind to the sweeping changes in the political and social landscape.” 

He added that the sweeping changes were effected by Duterte, whom he described as an “unorthodox, maverick and daredevil leader who is fiercely devoted to and protective of the interest of the greater masses of our people.”

“Rather than continue with their hate campaign against the President, they should join the majority in supporting the administration’s programs designed to serve and protect the nation and its citizenry and start contributing for the country’s progress,” he also said.

According to Panelo, Duterte is racing against time to fulfill his campaign promise of “slaying the dragon of illegal drugs, criminality, corruption and rebellion” and providing people with a comfortable life.

“No negative force will detract him from his goal of liberating the people from the causes that enslave them and stunt the growth of the country. Destiny has placed this President at the helm of this troubled land, so it is his destiny to remove it from its distress and lead it to a state of peace and progress,” he said. 

The spokesman also said the high satisfaction rating could be one of the reasons why administration bets dominate the recent surveys on senatorial candidates. 

Meanwhile, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison, in a statement posted on the National Democratic Front (NDF) website last week, said Duterte is trying to pull people’s leg by playing weak.

“He is playing weak to spring a surprise attack. The point is to keep on struggling to oust him and make sure that he does not go beyond his term or pick his successor through Cha-cha to bogus federalism,” Sison said.

Sison said the President is obviously faking as he claimed that Duterte “has gotten the plunderers out of prison, has put (Gloria) Arroyo back in power and has made so many of them senatorial candidates of his Hugpong ng mga Ulupong.”

“These plunderers in the first place put him in power with their money and bailiwick votes in the 2016 elections,” he added.   – With Jose Rodel Clapano