Palace welcomes Rody’s trust, approval rating

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte interacts with his supporters during a meeting with the Filipinos residing in Vietnam at the Pulchra Resort in Da Nang City on November 9, 2017. (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Malacañang was pleased with President Rodrigo Duterte’s (PRRD) 80% trust and 80% approval rating from Pulse Asia’s comparative performance and trust ratings.

A day after the results were released, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque issued the statement on Friday, describing the rating as ‘the highest since the time of former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

Pulse Asia’s Comparative Performance and Trust Ratings of Presidents from May 1999 to September 2017, laid out the figures of former presidents Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, then Duterte.

“The President accepts this public appreciation with all humility, but regardless of survey results, PRRD and the members of his Cabinet would continue to work and advance public interests and build, as he said in numerous occasions, a nation worthy of the Filipinos,” the statement read.

While the Palace recognized Duterte’s higher rating compared to past presidents, his 80% is actually lower compared to the 86% he got in September 2016.

Earlier in October, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said that they are taking Pulse Asia’s and Social Weather Station’s (SWS) surveys ‘seriously’ whether the results are good or bad.

“In fact, itong mga survey na ito ay gabay natin ito sa gobyero para gawin lahat ng pwedeng gawin para ma-improve lahat (this survey is actually the guide of the government for improvement),” he further said.

The Chief Executive’s thoughts are quite different though, as he explained that he was only performing according to his job.

“Wala akong pakialam d’yan sa rating-rating. Tapos na ang rating ko. (I do not really care about those ratings. I already got mine.) I got six million majority over the next opponent,” Duterte said in a speech in October.

“Either I go up or I go down, I do not really give s***,” he added.

In a separate interview, Duterte said, “‘Yung ratings, maski mag-abot ako ng zero, wala ‘yun. May trabaho ako, zero, zero, plus. Ganon pa rin, magtrabaho ako kasi pinangako ko (Even if my ratings drop to zero, it is nothing. I have a job, zero, zero, plus.

It is the same, I will still do my job).”