MALACAÑANG downplayed the sinking rating of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., claiming “public interest” not high rating, is behind every decision made by the Chief Executive, said Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin.
“True leadership always carries with it the burden to pursue courses of action which are right but may not be popular,” Bersamin said in a statement.
“Public interest is the sole driver behind every executive decision, not the pursuit of high ratings in the next opinion polls,” he continued. “High popularity ratings are the bonus and not the bedrock of effective public service.”
Bersamin offered the explanation after a survey conducted by Pulse Asia from November 26 to December 3 involving 2,400 respondents, showed that Marcos’ approval rating dropped to 48 percent, 2 points less from his 50 percent rating two months previously, in September and his trust rating dropping to 47 percent. Pulse Asia officially released the result last December 21.
The survey also has a plus or minus 4 percent margin of error at 95 percent confidence level; it took place against the backdrop of increased attacks against Vice President Sara Duterte that include the filing of two impeachment cases against her before Congress, her being summone by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the filing of a criminal complaint against her by the Philippine National Police (PNP), Pulse Asia noted.
Despite this, Duterte got an approval rating of 50 percent and a trust rating of 49 percent.
The survey also showed that only Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero got the trust and approval of majority of Filipinos at 51 percent and 53 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, remains the most distrusted of the country’s top four officials, with an approval rating of only 25 percent and trust rating of 21 percent.
Nationwide, Romualdez also has the biggest disapproval rating in terms of performance at 32 percent, followed by Duterte at 28 percent, 25 percent for the President and only 9 percent for SP Escudero.
The result of the survey also tend to show that despite the political noise in Metro Manila and the unending attacks against her, the people in Mindanao continues to believe Vice President Duterte, with approval and trust rating of 80 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Mindanao remains the bailiwick of the Vice President, having been born and raised there.
Although unable to provide more services to the public due to here present predicament, Duterte is trusted more by the poorest class (class E) with an approval rating of 68 percent and trust rating of 67 percent.
This contrasts to the President’s trust and approval ratings in the same social class, which appeared to be mixed.
“As for those in Class E, there is a three-way split in public opinion concerning presidential performance (35 percent approval, 31 percent indecision, and 34 percent disapproval) and trustworthiness (33 percent trust 34 percent indecision, and 32 percent distrust),” Pulse Asia noted.