Poll results show Filipinos’ deep appreciation of Duterte’s policies on drugs, criminality, corruption— Palace

Malacañang on Tuesday said the latest Pulse Asia survey showing President Rodrigo Duterte garnering the highest approval and trust rating among the country’s top officials has validated the people’s deep appreciation towards the President’s policies on drugs, criminality and corruption. (Photo: REY BANIQUET/Presidential Photo)

MANILA—Malacañang on Tuesday said the latest Pulse Asia survey showing President Rodrigo Duterte garnering the highest approval and trust rating among the country’s top officials has validated the people’s deep appreciation towards the President’s policies on drugs, criminality and corruption.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that considering that Pulse Asia conducted its survey at a time when the President was facing mounting pressure from his fiercest critics, Duterte has remained the highest approved, and most trusted among top national government official in the Philippines

“This tells us that a great majority of Filipinos appreciate the President’s priority of protecting the nation’s patrimony – the next generation – from dangerous drug traffickers and violators; to restore a trustworthy government free from corruption; to keep our streets safe from crime; our society just and fair; and our many peoples get along,” Abella said.

The Palace official added that the poll results also confirmed that public sentiment towards the President’s policy on drugs, criminality and corruption cannot be swayed by the ‘vicious noise’ coming from his fiercest critics.

“The vicious noise from the President’s fiercest critics failed to dampen public sentiment on the latest presidential rating,” he said.

“We thank our people for trusting that the Duterte administration is on the right track to building a nation worthy of all Filipinos,” Abella said.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey released Monday, the performance rating of Pres. Duterte dropped five points nationally, from 83 percent in December 2016 to 78 percent in March.

The President’s trust rating also dropped seven points, from 83 percent last December to 76 percent in March.

On the other hand, Robredo recorded 58 percent performance rating in March, four percent lower than her 62 percent rating in December 2016.

Her trust ratings also fell to 56 percent, down two percentage points from the 58 percent rating she got last December.

Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III got an approval and trust rating of 55 percent and 51 percent, respectively.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earned a 40 percent approval rating while his trust rating stands at 37 percent.

In the meantime, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno earned 42 percent and 40 percent approval and trust ratings respectively.

The survey was conducted from March 15 to 20, 2017.

Among the issues facing President Duterte at the time included the filing of an impeachment complaint against him last March 16; the Senate appearance of a self-confessed but perjured assassin; human rights reports highly critical of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drug traffickers and violators; and the internationally aired video message of Robredo among others.