SWS: Duterte trust rating soars in Q3

MANILA, Philippines — After suffering declines in the past two surveys, the trust rating of President Duterte rebounded by five points in the latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The third quarter survey, conducted from Sept. 15 to 23 with the results released yesterday, revealed that 74 percent of adult Filipinos have much trust in the President.

Twelve percent said they had little trust in Duterte, while the remaining 14 percent were undecided.

This gave the President a net trust rating of “very good” +62, five points higher than the “very good” +57 (70 percent much trust, 13 percent little trust) that he obtained in June.

It was also the first time that Duterte’s trust rating improved this year, following a 10-point decline to “very good” +65 (76 percent much trust, 10 percent little trust, rounded off) in March and another eight-point drop to +57 in June.

Throughout his presidency, SWS said Duterte has an average net trust rating of +68 (78 percent much trust, 12 percent little trust).

The net trust rating is the rounded off difference between those who said they have much trust and have little trust with the President.

SWS classifies net trust ratings of at least +70 as “excellent”; +50 to +69 as “very “good”; +30 to +49 as “good”; +10 to +29 as “moderate”; +9 to -9 as “neutral”; -10 to -29 as “poor”; -30 to -49 as “bad”; -50 to -69 as “very bad”; and -70 and below as “execrable.”

According to SWS, the five-point increase in Duterte’s overall net trust rating was due to increases in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, combined with steady scores in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Net trust in Duterte rose by nine points and one grade in Metro Manila, from “good” +42 in June to “very good” +51 in September.

It also increased 10 points in the rest of Luzon, from “very good” +50 to “very good” +60.

It stayed at “good” +49 in the Visayas, while slightly dropped from “excellent” +88 to “excellent” +86 in Mindanao.

SWS said Duterte has “very” good net trust ratings across all educational levels.

The survey had 1,500 respondents and an error margin of +/- three percent for national percentages.

As this developed, Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide (JIL) president-founder Eddie Villanueva urged the people to include Duterte in their prayers because his success as a leader would redound to the benefit of the Filipino people. 

“Let us admit that he (Duterte) is doing something good and there are things that he is doing which are not pleasing, so definitely the Filipino people and history will judge him. We have to pray for him to succeed because his success will be the success of the Filipino people; his failure will be the failure of the Filipino people,” Villanueva said during the 40th anniversary of JIL held at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila yesterday.

“So I hope that he would be surrounded by the right advisers…so that our country would have real change in the spiritual, moral, political (and) economic (aspects), and democracy will be alive,” Villanueva added.

As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the Manila Police District (MPD) estimated that some 70,000 people attended the anniversary celebration. This caused monstrous traffic jams in various parts of Manila.

Villanueva said their anniversary gathering was meant to show their gratitude for their 40 years of existence as a Christian community that was made possible through the help of God.

Aside from his son, Sen. Joel Villanueva, Sen. Sonny Angara – who is running for re-election in next year’s polls – was present at the anniversary celebration but the evangelist said they sent out invitations to “everyone.”

Villanueva admitted that his office has been receiving requests from senatorial and congressional candidates to meet with him, but he is busy and could not accommodate them.