The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper
President's Popularity Dips
DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte’s popularity ratings have dropped 18 points compared to a previous survey, according to the Social Weather Survey reports.
The results of the Third Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey (SWS) was conducted from Septem-ber 23 to 27 and released only recently showed Duterte obtained a net sat-isfaction rating of +48(good) from “very good” net satisfaction rating of+66 he got in June.
Duterte’s net trust rat-ing also fell to +60 (very good) from +75 (excellent). But despite the drop in his popularity ratings, Duterte continues to enjoy the full support of the country's business community, said Secretary Joey Concepcion, Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneur-ship. “Despite the ratings of our President which is slightly down, one thing is important: the business community is solidly be-hind the President,” he said in a report by the official Philippine News Agency.
Concepcion said proof of the business sector’s confidence in the way Duterte is running the economy is the perfor-mance of the stock market. “The stock market hit anall-time high. If there’s no business confidence, you won’t see the stock marketmaking an all-time high,” he said. “I will always say, the reflection of the busi-ness community is really always looking at our stockmarket. That is the index of confidence for business confidence.”
Despite the latest sur-vey results, Concepcion said there is a great sense of optimism, especially from the bigger conglom-erates, all the way down to micro and small entrepre-neurs. He said large conglomerates - the Ayalas, the Lucio Tans andthe Gokongweis among others - have formed a cluster to work closely with the government’s eco-nomic team headed by Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez.
“And we, for the past month or so, have been engaging with them onhow the private sector can partner closely with thegovernment in their Build, Build, Build program. The business sector wants to engage with this govern-ment to really be partners with them in their nation-wide building program,” Concepcion said.
He added that the large conglomerates have also promised to really bring the micro and small entre-preneurs into the system. “You have of course the politics and all of that noise there. But we have to re-member that the business sector has to be focused on its vision aligned with the government on how in the end, all of these infrastructure will really help many of our small entrepreneurs and eventually the general population,” he said.
Concepcion pointed out that interest rates and commodity prices remain stable, the foreign exchange will play within range and the labor force is also peaceful for some time now. “So our country is conducive. Yes the drug war is continuing to be fought by our President and the military. And whatever it is, the drug solution is definitely a problem and the process of solving the problem, we have to trust our leadership on what is the best process,” he said.
“We have to have a country that is safe. Marawi is one instance wherein in the end; it was more than just terrorism. And I’m glad that the President is really focusing on providing security in making this country drug-free. Because in the end, without the right macro environment, no matter what a businessman does to grow and be part of a growing economy, it would be always challenged,” said Concepcion, who is also the RFM Corporation President and CEO and Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship – Go Negosyo Founder.
The drop in Duterte’s popularity came amid widespread public criticism of the government’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs, suspected extrajudicial killings of drug users and pushers by the police and his false allegations of overseas bank accounts of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes and a spike in prices of fuel and basic commodities, among other concerns.