MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who trust the government has reached record high following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte last year, according to the latest Philippine Trust Index (PTI) released Tuesday.
The trust index, a propriety research conducted by public relations firm EON Group, showed that 80 percent of Filipinos trust the government, 30 points higher than the 50 percent obtained in a similar study conducted in 2015.
The survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents across the country from March to April 2017.
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The 2017 PTI showed that of the 80 percent who said they trust the government, 29 percent said they had extreme trust while 51 percent said they had moderate trust.
It is significantly higher than the 12 percent who said they had extreme trust and 38 percent who said they had moderate trust in the government in 2015.
“The government is pleased with the results of the survey and we will try our very best to deliver on (the promises of the administration),” Communications Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan said during the launch of the results Tuesday in Taguig City.
“The bar is set high and by no means we are rest on our laurels. We do recognize that we have to deliver on the promised programs, otherwise… the high ratings may fall and it may fall fast,” he added.
Among government institutions, the Office of the President obtained the highest overall trust of 82 percent (39 percent extreme trust, 43 percent moderate trust), while the Office of the Vice President had the lowest at 57 percent (17 percent extreme trust, 40 percent moderate trust).
Local government units had an overall trust of 78 percent; followed by the Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court and the Regional Trial Courts with 67 percent each. The Cabinet obtained an overall trust of 65 percent.
“Filipinos are most likely to trust government agencies with which they always interact, evident in the fact that Filipinos’ most trusted government agencies provide social services while the least trusted are those with which the everyday Filipino would rarely interact,” noted the results.
Included in the agencies that received high trust ratings are PhilHealth, the Department of Education and the Social Security System, while those that obtained the least trust are the Department of Budget and Management, National Economic Development Authority and the Department of Finance.
Other institutions
Aside from the government, other institutions covered by the PTI also enjoyed jumps in their respective trust ratings.
Trust in the business sector jumped 20 points, from 55 percent (9 percent extreme trust, 46 percent moderate trust) in 2015 to 75 percent (15 percent extreme trust, 60 percent moderate trust) this year.
The academe also saw its trust rating improve from 87 percent (51 percent extreme trust, 36 percent moderate trust) in 2015 to 93 percent (57 percent extreme trust, 36 percent moderate trust) this year.
The trust rating of the non-government organizations also improved from 41 percent (9 percent extreme trust, 32 percent moderate trust) in 2015 to 59 percent (13 percent extreme trust, 46 percent moderate trust) this year.
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Meanwhile, extreme trust in the church and the media declined from 73 percent and 32 percent in 2015 to 66 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
However, overall trust in these two institutions still increased from 92 percent in 2015 to 93 percent this year for the Church, and from 73 percent in 2015 to 78 percent this year for the media.
The role of social media
Mori Rodriguez, chief innovations officer of EON Group, said they also looked at the impact of social media in the conduct of this year’s PTI.
For instance, results suggest that institutions are trusted less by Filipinos on social media than those who are offline.
“Social media has changed the way people deal with and trust in institutions,” read the report. “While traditional media is still important in building credibility and reaching a wider audience, seeing that Filipinos on social media trust it more than media as an institution, it is critical that organizations also invest in digital communications.”
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PTI noted that social media has democratized information dissemination, but the risk is also great as it maybe used maliciously or irresponsibly.
EON used Groundswell, a social media listening tool, to look into how Filipinos in social media talk about their trust in the institutions measured by the PTI.