Despite the double-digit drop in President Rodrigo Duterte’s trust and satisfaction ratings, Malacanang officials insisted that the administration remains bent on delivering the president’s campaign promise: to eliminate crime, drugs, and corruption.
A survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that the public’s satisfaction over Duterte’s performance fell by 18 points, while the trust ratings declined by 15 points from “excellent” last June to “very good” in September.
The third quarter ratings have been found to be at its lowest since the president assumed position last June, but in an interview with CNN Philippines, SWS clarified that ratings drop after about a year in the office is normal.
“For this time period, it’s a normal phenomenon for all past presidents to have a fluctuating net satisfaction rating and even trust rating,” SWS Director for Communications and Information Technology Leo Laroza told CNN Philippines.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella and Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar echoed the statement, saying that the administration is neither surprised nor discouraged by the drop.
The lower ratings are expected, “given the fact that people start measuring their expectations usually after the honeymoon period, or after a year in office,” Philstar quoted Abella, “[but] you know, the love is still there.”
“We will study the survey. We will go to the details of it to see what went wrong and how we can improve,” Andanar said in a radio interview.
“It is really what the present administration is all about: it’s about moving forward, [determining] what mistakes were committed, [making] adjustments and [moving] forward. And we are very positive in the coming months, the satisfaction and trust rating of the President will go up,” Andanar added.
Source: CNN Philippines, Inquirer.net, Philstar, Reuters
Photo credit: Wikimedia
