Church, academe, media are the most trusted institutions in country – survey

The Church, academe, and the media are the “most trusted” institutions in the country, while the government, business earned low ratings, according to the results of a survey of the Philippine Trust Index (PTI) 2015.

For the fourth year, the Church remained as the most trusted institution in the country, with an overwhelming 73% of the general public — and 68% of the informed public — trusting the church “very much.”

The academe had the second highest trust rating with 51% from the general public while media maintained its third position with 32%.

The least trusted in the survey were non-government organizations (NGOs), 9%; business, also 9%; and government, 12%.

The survey had 1,620 respondents from various socio-economic, educational, and demographic backgrounds. Face-to-face interviews were held with the respondents in the National Capital Region, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

In the government, the Office of the President had a trust rating of 15% of the general public and 11% of the informed public. It had the steepest drop of 13% since the 2012 survey.

The Senate had 10 % while the House of Representatives had 8%.

Among government offices, local government units had the highest trust rating – 19%.

Rafael Alunan, one of the panelists, said Church remains the most trusted as “the service orientation of the Church is very strong.”

Trust in LGUs is higher than trust in the national government because local officials are more easily accessible,” he said.

The survey also showed that Filipinos most value in government leaders’ the “willingness to listen to their constituents” – 17% of the general public and 18% of the informed public.

“Showing genuine concern for the people” garnered 12% from the general public and 13% from the informed public. “Having a strong political will” had 12% of the general public and 13% of the informed public.

The most valued quality of a business leader is ”willingness to listen to employees’ feedback” – 19% of the general public and 23% of the informed public. “Genuine concern for employees” scored 17% in both general and informed publics.

“Our findings on the most valued leadership qualities further underlines the importance of conversation and communication in building trust for public and private institutions,” Junie del Mundo, CEO and chairman of EON Stakeholder Relations Group, said.

In media, television remains the most trusted source of information on government and business, but trust in online media continues to increase.

“Results of the 2015 PTI Survey show how important it is now to utilize all channels – from traditional media, to online news sites, and even social media,” said Malyn Molina, managing director of Engage.