Senators, critics slam Duterte amid rating decline

FILE: President Rodrigo Duterte (KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Some senators and opposition groups slammed President Rodrigo Duterte as the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) Survey showed his 18-point fall on his net satisfaction rating and 11-point fall on his trust rating.

Of the 1500 Filipino adults surveyed from September 23-27, SWS classified Duterte’s net satisfaction rating of +48 as “Good,” a significant two-digit drop from his “Very Good” rating of +66 in June 2017. His trust rating which was +75 classified as “Excellent” dropped to a “Very Good” of +60.

(Read: SWS: Rody’s satisfaction, trust ratings drop)

His critics both from the Senate and opposition groups chose to use these results to prove their points and further condemn the President and his administration.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of Duterte’s known staunch critics said that it was very ‘encouraging’ to see that Filipinos are ‘beginning to see the light’ on who the President really is. He called Duterte a ‘lying, rude, amoral, corrupt, and oppressive former mayor who is totally incompetent about governance at the national level.’

“To think that this survey was done just before the Ombudsman confirmed Duterte’s billion peso bank deposits, so the next survey results are expected to be worse,” the Senator added.

Another senator known for criticizing the President, Risa Hontiveros, called the survey an ‘ominous warning’ that signifies that Duterte’s ‘authoritarian style of governance is losing its appeal’ to the public.

Hontiveros reiterated her call for Duterte to explain the issues surrounding his alleged bank records and his bloody war on drugs.

“The survey showed deep damage to the President’s reputation,” she said.

For Senator Bam Aquino, it is a ‘wake-up call’ but not just for Duterte, but for the Philippine National Police (PNP) as well.

“Marami nang Pilipino ang natatakot na maging (A lot of Filipinos are scared to be a) collateral damage ng (of the) drug war,” the Senator said, reiterating that the PNP should rethink its strategy and address the killings in the communities in relation to the campaign against illegal drugs.

He said that the Chief Executive should not take the results for granted and that it was high time for the Palace to listen to the people.

#TindigPilipinas, a coalition with some politician-members, in a statement, said that ‘the honeymoon is over.’

“The significant drop in the President’s numbers is expected because while his government was focused on killing the poor and balkanizing our democratic institutions, his administration has miserably failed to deliver on his promises – peace in Mindanao, housing, solutions to traffic, end to endo, employment, among others,” the group said.

Like Hontiveros, they emphasized their call for Duterte to sign a bank waiver and stop extrajudicial killings. Similar to Aquino’s statement, they also called on the ‘rethinking’ of the war on drugs.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, on the other hand, chose to see the brighter side of the result. “It’s just a part of the cycle of politics, and it shouldn’t be a cause of concern in Malacañang. What is clear in the survey results is that the Filipino people continue to trust the President and approve of his performance, despite the ratings dip,” he said.

Gatchalian countered though that this does not mean that the administration should be complacent. “I encourage the President and his administration to view these survey results as a constructive challenge to do more for the Filipino people.”

While for Senator Panfilo Lacson, Duterte is still capable of ‘bouncing back’

“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,” he said.

Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of the Bagong Henerasyon party-list agrees with Lacson, just that the recent weeks before the survey was conducted were ‘generally not favorable for the President.’

“But his base of support remains solid, in my view. The 16 million who voted for him in May 2016, I believe are still there,” she said.