MANILA, Philippines – The first quarter of 2026 survey of Pulse Asia Research, Incorporated showed Vice President Sara Duterte as still the most appreciated and trusted top official in the country, though her disapproval rating as well as distrust in her increased by double digits year-on-year.

What has happened over the past year that may have caused the steady ratings drop from March 2025 to March 2026? Her disapproval rating rose to 27% from 16%, while distrust in her increased to 26% from 16%.

The results of a Pulse Asia survey conducted from late February to early March, released on Wednesday, March 25, offer the apparent reason behind Duterte’s trust ratings drop.

“Those with a positive opinion about the Vice-President’s trustworthiness are split in terms of their reasons for trusting; in contrast, the top reason for distrusting the latter is her alleged involvement in corrupt activities (51.5%) while most of those ambivalent toward her trustworthiness say this is because she has failed to address allegations of misuse of her confidential funds,” Pulse Asia said.

The pollster asked respondents to choose from a set of possible answers for their primary reason for trusting, distrusting, or why they are undecided on whether or not to trust Duterte.

Primary reason for distrust in Duterte

Asked for their primary reason for distrusting Duterte, the top reason cited by respondents is her alleged involvement in corrupt activities. This is not only true for the nationwide survey results but also for all areas and socio-economic classes, Pulse Asia said.

The second top primary reason (21.4%) is the threats she has made against the Marcos government and her critics. 

It can be recalled that in November 2024, she bared during a media interview a supposed assassination plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez, in the event that she was killed. This forms part of the impeachment complaints against her.

Among those who are undecided on whether or not to trust Duterte, near to huge majorities cite her “failure to address the allegations regarding her misuse of the confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice-President and the Department of Education (DepEd) under her leadership.”

“Other reasons identified by at least a tenth of those ambivalent toward the Vice President’s trustworthiness are their lack of knowledge about what she has accomplished (17.8%) and her refusal to face investigations against her (10.3%),” Pulse Asia said.

The Vice President has consistently refused to respond to the corruption allegations against her, dismissing them as politically motivated, just as she had done in relation to the latest impeachment complaints being heard by the House committee on justice.

‘Divided’ sentiments on reason for trusting VP

The survey results also show that there is no dominant reason for trusting the Vice President. Among those who expressed trust in Duterte, the top reasons cited, from among the set of reasons provided in the poll, are the following: capable of governing (12.8%), pro-poor (12.7%), courageous (12.4%).

They also cited Duterte’s being helpful (9.1%), her strong convictions (9.0%), and being quick to respond to calamities (7.9%). 

The survey was conducted from February 27 to March 2, among 1,200 adults. It has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level, while subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95% confidence level: ± 5.7% for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

In the weeks leading to the survey period, among the major developments were the junking of the impeachment complaints against Marcos by the House committee on justice, and the same panel’s vote that the impeachment complaints against the Vice President were sufficient in substance.

During the period, Duterte announced her bid to run in the 2028 presidential race. It was also during this time when the International Criminal Court conducted the confirmation of charges hearings against her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in the Hague, the Netherlands for his crimes against humanity case. – Rappler.com