Dip in Duterte's ratings not worrying

It's the 106th anniversary of the Taiwan National Day, a.k.a. Double Tenth Day, which was once celebrated in the whole of the Republic of China when it was still a one single country. But when the Nationalists fled from Mainland China and moved to Taiwan, the Double Tenth Day was no longer celebrated in Mainland China. Just a little reminder to our readers, Filipinos no longer need a visa to visit Taiwan, so if you're up to celebrating the Double Tenth Day's national fireworks display, then this is one event worth looking into.

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The mainstream newspapers all blared similar headlines just like the headline of the Philippine STAR yesterday which blared, "Rody satisfaction, trust rating down." If our national newspapers find this newsworthy, it is because Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte came into the political scene with very high approval and trust ratings, higher than any other president in this country. For clarity, allow me to reprint this report from the STAR.

"President Duterte's net satisfaction and trust ratings suffered double-digit drops in the third quarter of the year amid criticisms over his brutal war on drugs, the third quarter survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

"Six in 10 Filipinos or 67 percent of adult Filipinos said they were satisfied with Duterte while 19 percent were dissatisfied, resulting in a net satisfaction score of "good" +48. The remaining 14 percent of 1,500 respondents were undecided, the pollster said.

"These were the biggest drops in Duterte's ratings since he assumed power. SWS gave no explanation for the fall, but the survey was taken amid criticism of the recent killings of teenagers related to the war on drugs. The uncommissioned poll was conducted nationwide from Sept. 23 to 27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults 18 years old and above."

Duterte's latest net satisfaction rating was 18 points below the "very good" +66 he obtained in June (78 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied). His net trust rating fell 15 points to a "very good" +60 (73 percent with much trust, 12 percent with little trust) from an "excellent" +75 (82 percent much trust, seven percent little trust) in June.

So for the record, "Six in 10 Filipinos or 67 percent of adult Filipinos said they were still satisfied with Pres. Duterte while 19 percent were dissatisfied, resulting in a net satisfaction score of "good" +48. The remaining 14 percent of 1,500 respondents were undecided." As expected, SWS did not explain the drop in the satisfaction ratings of the president, and yes, they do not tell you how the questionnaires were formulated, because those questions can be designed in such a way to end up with the desired results the survey company wants to get from the people.

More importantly, SWS admitted that this survey was an "uncommissioned poll" and was conducted nationwide from Sept. 23 to 27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 people 18 years old and above. So there you are, the SWS is up to its old tricks trying to "influence" Filipinos perhaps to drop their support for Pres. Duterte. After all, SWS has always wanted to become a kingmaker by controlling the outcome of their surveys.

Again, just like when SWS had surveys way back during the days of former president Benigno "PNoy" Aquino, we were always surprised why Filipinos supported him when many of us already knew his hypocrisy and incompetence. Somehow as if on cue, SWS surveys would suddenly appear when the president bungles something. If I remember it right, they had one supporting Aquino right after the killings of the Hong Kong tourists in Luneta and right after the Mamasapano massacre. No doubt that those surveys were designed to sway the thoughts of Filipinos to still support the president, despite the reality to the contrary!

Since this survey was an uncommissioned survey, I just hope that the owners of SWS do not have any ulterior motive by having this survey out at this time. For the record, the last few weeks' developments have not been generally favorable to Pres. Duterte, but in my book, his base of support remains solid. The 16 million who voted for him in May 2016, I believe are still there. There were just too many issues like the lack of reforms that continue to hound the Duterte Presidency.