From the Newsrooms: Drop in trust and approval ratings across three branches of government

A rundown of key events and issues covered by newsrooms from October 2 to 8, 2023

DESPITE the corruption and violence that marred his six years in office, Rodrigo Duterte remained popular until the end of his tenure. He maintained a rating of 70 and above throughout his six-year term, except for the 64 percent rating recorded in September 2021, his lowest. Notably, even the erratic response to the pandemic did not dent Duterte’s high approval rating, which went up to 91 percent twice in 2020. 

Media did not say it, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has been in office for more than a year, is not poised to match his predecessor’s popularity. Trust and approval ratings for both Marcos and Vice President Duterte saw double-digit declines. Trust showed a dip from 85 to 71 for Marcos and from 87 to 75 for Duterte. Ratings for approval for the President went from 80 to 65 and 84 to 73 for      the Vice President. 

Pulse Asia’s survey was conducted from September 10 to 14 with 1,200 respondents. On October 2, media reported similar percentage declines for the heads of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Judiciary. Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo dropped from 44 to 34 and House Speaker Martin Romualdez from 52 to 41. Only Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri registered a single-digit decline from 56 to 50 percent. 

Anchors draw further analysis from Pulse Asia

The survey results, particularly the huge drop, made front page news for Manila-based broadsheets on October 3, except for Manila Bulletin which put the story on page 2 downplaying the impact of the decline. It also chose to headline Pulse Asia’s note that both the President and Vice President still enjoy high trust ratings, noting less prominently that Pulse Asia found the “erosions” in the ratings significant. 

Of the primetime newscasts on free TV, only CNN Philippines’ News Night presented the survey results as its top story on October 2. The rest placed the news about the dramatic drop in the middle or toward the tail end of the program. 

The late evening newscasts of CNN Philippines’ The Final Word and ONE News’ The Big Story got Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes to elaborate on the figures.

Holmes did confirm that the decline was significant due to two reasons: statistically, a margin of error of +/-6 is already considered significant, and the ratings drop across top officials of three branches of government had no past precedent. Holmes recognized as possible reasons the rising prices both for basic commodities and fuel, and Marcos’ unfulfilled promise of lowering the price of rice to PHP 20 per kilo. But in both interviews, Holmes also clarified that during the survey period, the critical questions about Sara Duterte’s confidential funds had not yet been raised in the House. 

Rico Hizon on The Final Word asked whether the numbers are already setting a pattern. Holmes said it would still depend on what will happen in the next three months, considering the approach of the holiday season.

The Big Story gave Holmes more time. Dani Laurel asked what situations or scenarios the numbers concretely determine at this point, citing hesitancy of foreign investors as a possibility. Holmes agreed, adding that the government should pay attention to the numbers. A continuing decline in the survey poll could affect economic growth. 

The Big Story’s interview with Holmes also drew out more points: economic difficulties definitely erode approval ratings, as price hikes in September 2018 brought down Rodrigo Duterte’s numbers. Holmes pointed out that ratings for the vice president are usually steady given the nature of the job. Former VPs enjoyed higher ratings than their presidents, citing the example of Jejomar Binay. But the president’s ratings are always a big deal, and the slight or huge declines always receive attention. Holmes also said Zubiri’s one-digit drop does not necessarily mean that the Senate is now the most trusted office, since the three branches have different functions and approval ratings are not comparable with one another. 

Marcos shrugs it off

TV and online reports on October 4 carried Marcos’ response to the survey that he did not find it surprising, since Filipinos are indeed going through a tough time. He said this is precisely why he and his government are working on stabilizing prices. On CNN Philippines’ Politics as Usual aired on the same date, statistician Jose Ramon Albert and UP Public Administration dean Kris Berse both agreed that Marcos’ acknowledgment of the problem was a good sign, but he still needs to prove to citizens that he is indeed taking steps to address inflation.

Surveys provide snapshots of certain periods during a particular official’s term. Clearly, the numbers reflect the profound impact of gut issues, hunger and high prices affecting politics. Media should be more prepared to tell this continuing story.

More news from the media:

• The Philippine Statistics Authority reported on October 5 that headline inflation for September rose to 6.1 percent from the previous month’s 5.3 percent, with rice prices as main driver of this figure. Online and print reports correctly noted that the inflation rate increased despite the rice price cap imposed by the President.

• Philippine Daily Inquirer featured as October 7 banner story the initial findings of the National Privacy Commission that the PhilHealth data breach caused the leak of 730 gigabytes of data that include personal and sensitive information of beneficiaries. Media should follow this up as this is not the first time government’s data systems have been hacked.
  
• Journalists and press freedom advocates commemorated on October 3 the first death anniversary of Percival Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid in his radio program. Roy Mabasa, Percy’s brother, said in interviews that justice has been slow, as the Justice department is no longer in touch with him and the lawyers for the defense have not been attending proceedings.
  
• Three fisherfolk died in a ramming incident on October 2 off the coast of Agno, Pangasinan. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) clarified that the area was not in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc where Chinese vessels had put a floating barrier a few weeks ago, and that there was no Chinese party involved in the incident. Upon further investigation, the PCG identified the crude oil tanker as registered under the flag of Marshall Islands.
  
• Welcome news from the Asian Games in China: the Philippines on October 8 finished 17th out of 45 competing countries, taking home four gold medals for pole vault (EJ Obiena), basketball (Gilas Pilipinas) and women’s jiu-jitsu (Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez). This is the country’s best ranking since 1994, when we placed 14th overall.