Duterte performance rating rises to 91% amid COVID-19 – Pulse

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte scored the highest approval and trust ratings among the five top government officials amid criticism over his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Pulse Asia survey released yesterday.

The poll, conducted from Sept. 14 to 20, showed that Duterte obtained an approval rating of 91 percent, up four points from 87 percent last December. Those who disapproved of his work remained at five percent.

The remaining five percent were undecided, down from eight percent.

The poll also found 91 percent of Filipinos who expressed trust in Duterte, up eight points from 83 percent. Only three percent distrust the President, down from six percent.

Six percent of the respondents could not say whether or not they trust Duterte, down from 10 percent last December.

Vice President Leni Robredo received an approval rating of 57 percent, down by a point from 58 percent.

Twenty-two percent said they disapproved of Robredo’s performance, up from 20 percent. Indecision with her work stayed at 21 percent.

The people’s trust in Robredo also dropped to 50 percent from 53 percent. Those who expressed distrust in the Vice President rose from 20 percent to 22 percent. The remaining 28 percent were undecided, up from 26 percent.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s approval rating stayed at 84 percent while his disapproval score increased by a point to six percent.

Sotto’s trust rating rose by a point to 79 percent, while distrust in him was unchanged at five percent.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano suffered the biggest drop in approval rating, dipping to 70 percent from 80 percent. Those who disapproved of his job increased to 10 percent from six percent.

Cayetano’s trust rating dropped from 76 percent to 67 percent. Those who expressed distrust in him increased from six percent to nine percent.

Forty-four percent of Filipinos approved of the performance of Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, against 13 percent who said otherwise.

Peralta obtained a trust rating of 39 percent and 13 percent distrust score.

There was no comparative data for Peralta since this was the first time he was included in the Ulat ng Bayan survey, Pulse Asia explained.

Palace elated

Malacañang thanked the public for Duterte’s high survey numbers and attributed Robredo’s lower trust and performance ratings to “politicking.”

“Thank you very much to the people. The President got 91 percent trust and performance approval ratings,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. “The promise of the President is he will do everything so we can recover from this pandemic and he will set aside politics.”

Roque said the survey results have proven that he was right in saying that politics should be set aside at a time of pandemic.

“Madam VP (Vice President), it seems that what I said was right. It appears that Filipinos do not want politicking during the pandemic. Try to stop politicking, your trust rating of 50 percent and performance rating of 57 percent might go up,” he said, addressing Robredo.

Sen. Bong Go described the results of the poll as a continuing vote of confidence of the people in the leadership of Duterte.

“True to his words, the President continues to deliver on his campaign promise of providing a better and more comfortable life for all despite the challenges caused by the pandemic,” Go said in a statement.

He said while the approval rating was heartening, “our work to serve our countrymen is not yet over.”

“President Duterte and I will continue serving the people as much as we can. Even without a high approval rating, we will serve for the benefit of the Filipinos,” Go said.

Leni hits back at Roque

Robredo’s camp hit back at Roque over his statement that her “low” ratings in the Pulse Asia survey proved that Filipinos hate politicking in the time of pandemic.

“It’s true. That’s why many Filipinos continue to support the Vice President,” Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said.

Robredo is grateful to the people who continued to appreciate her service, Gutierrez said.

Sotto said he was elated by the survey results as he vowed to continue to work hard amid the pandemic.

“It’s nice to know that the people acknowledge my effort as the leader of the Senate,” Sotto told reporters.

The poll used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 Filipinos 18 years old and above.

The survey has a plus or minus 2.8 percentage points error margin at the 95 percent confidence level. – Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero

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