By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s public approval rating fell to a record in March, according to the latest Pulse Asia Research, Inc. poll, days after his government enforced the arrest of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and sent him on a plane so he could be tried in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity.
On the other hand, Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s rating hit an all-time high, the only high-ranking government official whose ratings improved, according to e-mailed results of the poll on Wednesday.
The President’s approval rating plummeted to 25% from 42% in February, while 54% of Filipinos expressed distrust toward him, up from 32%.
Ms. Duterte’s approval rating improved 7 points to 59%, while her trust score improved 8 points to 61%, Pulse Asia said.
Mr. Duterte, father of the Vice-President and a maverick ex-mayor and former prosecutor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was flown to The Hague on March 11, hours after his arrest in Manila, marking the biggest step yet in the International Criminal Court’s probe into alleged crimes against humanity during an anti-drug crackdown that killed thousands and drew condemnation around the world.
Mr. Duterte, 80, could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC. His trial has been set for September.
Mr. Marcos has said his predecessor’s arrest was not personal, adding that his government was just doing its job.
Hansley A. Juliano, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, said the results are consistent with the Philippines’ political environment.
“The Duterte machinery is aggressive in advancing the narrative about the suppression or oppression of their camp,” he told BusinessWorld in a Facebook Messenger chat. “It’s netting the Vice-President sympathy.”
Meanwhile, the trust and performance ratings of Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero and presidential cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez also plummeted.
Mr. Escudero’s approval rating fell 8 points to 39%, while his trust score fell 9 points to 38%.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez’s approval rating fell 3 points to 14%, while his trust score fell 4 points to 14%.
“From this lens, the perspective on the mixed bag for Marcos and the broadly contentious view on Chiz and Martin makes perfect sense,” Mr. Juliano said.
He the survey results should be a warning for Mr. Escudero to be more forceful and less amorphous on his views, unless doing so will net him the same negatives.
The survey said he was distrusted by 57% of Filipinos, a 15 points higher than a month earlier.
Mr. Duterte’s arrest marked a stunning change of fortunes for the influential Duterte family, which forged a formidable alliance with Mr. Marcos to help him win a 2022 election by a huge margin.
But Marcos and his vice-president have since had a bitter fallout, culminating in Ms. Duterte’s impeachment last month by the House of Representatives led by the President’s allies.
Pulse Asia interviewed 2,400 Filipinos on March 23 to 29 for poll, which had an error margin of ±2 points.