Corruption top reason for distrust in Marcos Jr., Sara – poll

MANILA, Philippines — Most Filipinos who distrust President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte cited corruption as the primary reason for their lack of trust in the country’s two highest officials, according to a recent Pulse Asia survey.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 27 to March 2, asked the respondents for their primary reason for trusting or distrusting Marcos and Duterte.

It showed that 35 percent trusted Marcos while 44 percent distrusted him. The remaining 21 percent were undecided.

Duterte had a trust rating of 54 percent. Twenty-six percent distrusted her, while the remaining 20 percent were undecided.

In the case of the President, 16.7 percent of those who distrusted him cited his failure to fight corruption or the lack of accountability in corruption issues as their primary reason.

It was followed by his supposed failure to fulfill his promises (15.3 percent), failure to perform his duties (13.8 percent), failure to control the prices of goods (12.3 percent) and his alleged involvement in corruption (12 percent).

Other reasons for distrust in the President included his supposed lack of action against criminality and illegal drugs (10.1 percent), for allegedly being a drug addict (9.2 percent), slow response to help disaster victims (2.5 percent) and for going after the Dutertes (1.4 percent).

Notably, Marcos’ actions to expose and fight corruption was also the primary reason of most of those who trust him.

It was selected by 28.6 percent of those who trusted the President, followed by helping those affected by disasters (12.4 percent), implementing programs that improve the lives of Filipinos (10.9 percent), supporting farmers (9.9 percent) and repairing public infrastructure (4.9 percent).

For Duterte, more than half or 51.5 percent of those who distrusted her cited her alleged involvement in corruption as their reason.

It was followed by her threats against the administration (21.4 percent), repeated cursing (5.4 percent), not being able to do anything (5.1 percent) and repeated travels abroad (4.5 percent).