PBBM’s approval and trust ratings rebound in 2Q 2025 but still not enough to cross the threshold between good and bad
- edmalay
- May 8
- 7 min read
High ratings handed to VP Sara
an expression of public sympathy against
the conspiracy tied to PRRD’s arrest
PULSO NG PILIPINO ---- Despite claims of normalcy, the turbulent conditions precipitated by the ongoing political bedlam following the alleged illegal arrest and involuntary surrender of Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to The Hague has resulted in disparate levels of public perception towards the country’s top two highest officials.
In the 2nd Quarter non-commissioned Pulso ng Pilipino survey conducted by the Issues and Advocacy Center (The CENTER) on April 30 to May 3, 2025 with some 1,800 respondents nationwide covering a broad spectrum of individuals belonging to different social classes who are all registered voters of the barangays where the survey was conducted.
The survey was conducted while the social and political environ is filled with (1) the never-ending debate over the alleged unlawful arrest and surrender of PRRD to The Hague which has filtered down to every nook and cranny of the country; (2) the recently concluded Senatorial hearing chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos that exposed and brought to light the evident flaws and irregularity in the way PRRD was arrested and taken into custody, (3) the discovery of the underwater drone that reportedly was sending signals to China as part of that country’s interference in the mid-term elections, (4) the high tariffs imposed by the United States and its impact on the local economy, (5) the planned distribution and sale of rice at P20.00 per kilo and, (6) the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, (7) unchecked inflation rate, (8) uncontrollable spike in the prices of basic commodities, (9) unabated incidence of graft and corruption in the government, (10) unfulfilled campaign promises of PBBM, and uncertainties related to the tension at the West Philippine Sea.
The CENTER noted that these issues and concerns all combined to trigger a noticeable decline in both the performance and trust ratings of two of the top four officials of the country. The downswing in the way the Filipino public perceive the country’s officials is reflected in both the Approval and Trust ratings of President Bongbong Marcos Jr. which rebounded from a dismal rating in another survey but not enough to cross the threshold between good and bad as the President’s rating took a monumental downward spin that was apparently dragged by the negative perception of respondents relative to the performance of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez who heads the House of Representatives where most of the contentious issues emanate.
The low approval rating posted by Marcos, based on the feedback the Pulso ng Pilipino gathered was primarily caused by the “very poor” rating of the House of Representatives that was driven by issues related to the General Appropriations Act or the National Budget at which there was an initial attempt to pass a bundle of undefined unprogrammed appropriations that were in blank. Senate President Chiz Escudero barely survived the prevalent negative political atmosphere with a positive rating that is barely above the threshold.
The Pulso ng Pilipino for the period covered showed the rating of PBBM with 30% saying they approve and are satisfied with the performance of the President while 51% said they disapprove of the way he discharged his functions and 19% are non-committal or are unsure of their position. This translates into a negative -21% for the period when the survey was conducted.
In contrast, the approval ratings of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio remained on the high side with 61% saying they are in accord with how she performed and 21% saying they disapprove of her performance and, 18% saying they are unsure or do not know. This puts the Vice President at a high +40% during the same period.
Senate President Chiz Escudero posted a positive +19% approval rating from the 49% who said they are satisfied with the Senate President’s performance as against the 30% who disagreed and 21% saying they have no comment.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez who has popularized the market-type political strategy continues to slide down to a negative -25% from the 24% who said they approve of his patronage type of leadership as against the 49% who disapprove and 27% have no comment.
Much of the negative reaction that were extracted from the respondents by The CENTER are tied to basically four things – 1) the controversial arrest and surrender to The Hague of Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and, too much focus on eliminating all possible hindrances to its bid to dominate the 2028 national elections, 2) the non-delivery of the President’s campaign promises in 2022 even if three years has already passed, 3) the ill-timed decision to distribute rice at the promised rate of 20.00 pesos per kilo and, 4) fears of an armed conflict breaking out at the West Philippine Sea and dragging the Philippines in the process.
The low ratings suffered by the House of Representatives could be traced to the bias that has punctuated the public hearings conducted by the Lower House with resource persons invited to the hearings being treated and subjected to humiliation like criminal suspects.
At the same time, the Filipino public or at least those who were surveyed by the Pulso ng Pilipino have manifested their seeming distrust of the nation’s top officials although the numbers have not yet reached alarming levels. In the same survey, the trust ratings of President Marcos plunged to a low of 27% who said they still trust the President as against the 57% who said they distrust the President for a net negative -30% while 16% are unsure.
Conversely, the Vice President earned a positive +42% trust rating from the 65% who said they have complete trust in Vice President Duterte as against the 23% who said they don’t trust her while 12% said they are unsure.
Senate President Chiz Escudero also had a positive +15% trust rating from the 45% who said they trust him against the 30% who don’t trust him and 25% saying they don’t know.
Again, House Speaker Martin Romualdez is down to a negative -31% trust rating out of the 23% who completely trust the House Speaker as against the 54% who said they don’t trust him and another 23% saying they do not know.
Historically, the Lower House during the past administrations has always been in the low end with regards to the satisfaction and trust rating and this is because of the differences in the functions of the executive and legislative branches of government. The House of Representatives in fact always received low satisfaction and trust ratings during the past administrations. The same is true with the Senate, especially now that the Senate appears to be in the same league as the Lower House.
The Pulso ng Pilipino also said that one of the major factors in the perceptible decline in public confidence is due to the apparent lack of efficiency and competence in governance in the way the officials of the country have been performing their functions.
Most glaring of these slip-ups was when the President himself boasted about the completion of 5,500 flood control projects coupled with a huge flood-control budget amounting to P5.5-billion yet these projects the government claimed was in place failed to mitigate the effects of the series of typhoons that slammed into the Philippines particularly in the Bicol region and Calabarzon leaving 22 people dead and causing widespread flooding, landslides, power outages and 600,000 people displaced.
The failure of the President to stamp his oversight functions over the warring factions within the government was seen by many as a sign of weak leadership particularly with regards the verbal onslaughts exchanged between the Vice President and several congressmen allied with Romualdez which has created an image of a government in disarray.
Midway into his term, the people have yet to see the retail price of rice drop at P20.00 per kilo which was seen as the primary reason why Marcos was elected in the first place. Notwithstanding the fact that the Philippines is a rice-producing country, yet rice production in the country falls short of the consumption level and the country continues to import rice and this is where corruption seeps in.
The Marcos Administration will soon sell rice at P20.00 per kilo and the plan was to have the rice distributed before the elections. This move was seen as a political ploy to drum up support for the flagging chances of the pro-Administration’s senatorial ticket that is running under the banner of the Alyansa ng Bagong Pilipinas. The low performance and trust ratings registered by the government is compounded by what the Pulso ng Pilipino regard as a government being run through rhetoric with no visible accomplishments whatsoever.
Ed Malay, director of The CENTER said the norm used in the Pulso ng Pilipino survey is the widely used standard MSAP or the multi-stage area probability sampling method that was combined with the random digital access which is now widely used in the United States.
Selective interviews were conducted considering the demographic requirements such as gender, age and socio eco classification as the main considerations. To ensure the accuracy of the sampling results, calls were checked back at random by the team leader and a unique layered system of review that The CENTER has devised and proven accurate since it was used during the 1992 presidential campaign of the late President Fidel V. Ramos.
Pre-poll surveys were still on its infantile stage in those years, but it became an important component of the Ramos presidential campaign with Crystal Research headed by Col. Simeon Ventura doing most of the political poll research for FVR who ran and was eventually elected as the 12th President of the Philippines. FVR depended largely on what the surveys show which dictated the tempo of his campaign.
The FVR presidential campaign in 1992 also gave birth to The CENTER and was made part of the Ramos Media Bureau that also provided some inputs that tracked the progress of the Ramos presidential campaign. In addition, the FVR campaign also made use of research that was available from the Social Weather Station which was also starting to create a mark in this field as well as the political survey research from the Ateneo de Manila University. (Ed Malay @ 09209197878)
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