President Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC
Public satisfaction and trust in President Duterte saw double-digit declines in the third week of September, a slump in his 15-month-old presidency that gave him the lowest ratings since he came to power, according to the latest survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The biggest decline in public satisfaction was recorded among Class E, the poor who are mainly the victims of Mr. Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
Net public satisfaction with Mr. Duterte plunged 18 points from +66 to +48, according to SWS. His net trust rating declined 15 points to +60 from +75 in June.
SWS conducted the noncommissioned survey just days after rallies were staged nationwide on Sept. 21 to protest street killings related to Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs and threats of one-man rule.
The survey from Sept. 23 to 27 covered 1,500 adult respondents nationwide and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points for national percentages.
Despite the huge declines, SWS still considered the President’s net satisfaction rating “good” and his trust rating “very good.”
SWS considers a rating of +70 and above “excellent”; +50 to +69, “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”; +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor.”
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella had not responded to text messages as of press time when sought for comments on the results of the SWS survey.
‘Honeymoon is over’
The opposition coalition, #TindigPilipinas, said the two-digit decline in Mr. Duterte’s net satisfaction rating showed that “the honeymoon is over.”
In a statement, the group called on the President “to heed the people’s call to stop extrajudicial killings, rethink the war on drugs and desist from weakening our democratic institutions.”
It reiterated its call for him to sign a bank waiver to prove that he did not have any unexplained wealth.
“The administration has been embroiled in corruption scandals, such as P6.4-billion Davao group-Bureau of Customs ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) smuggling controversy, and the daily extrajudicial killings and murders of minors by abusive policemen,” Pangilinan said in a text message.
‘Bound to happen’
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the drop in the ratings of the President was “bound to happen sooner or later.”
“The excitement and adulation that a new leader gets after getting his fresh mandate normally dissipate the moment the people start seeing some predictability in his brand of leadership,” Lacson said in a text message.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said people were beginning to see Mr. Duterte as a “lying, rude, amoral, corrupt and oppressive former mayor.”
“To think that this survey was done just before the Ombudsman confirmed Mr. Duterte’s billion-peso bank deposits, so the next survey results are expected to be worse,” Trillanes said in a text message.
Except in Mindanao
The President’s satisfaction rating fell in all areas, except in Mindanao.
The biggest decline of 30 points from +73 to +43 was recorded in the Visayas, followed by 22 points in Luzon outside Metro Manila from +58 to +36. The decline in Metro Manila was 19 points (from +63 to +44).
Mindanao gave the President a rating of +76.
His satisfaction ratings slumped in all social classes, with the biggest drop of 32 points recorded among class E from +67 to +35. His net rating dropped from +59 to +57 among class ABC.
Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said the results of the survey “should be taken by the President as a wake-up call. It’s time that he should also listen to his critics, specially on the issue of war on drugs.”
Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said the administration’s “wrong moves” were to blame for the President’s slide in ratings. —Reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Vince F. Nonato, Nikko Dizon, and Inquirer Research
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