By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA  –  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s trust ratings dropped to a lowly 32%, while Vice President Sara Duterte’s ratings were at 50%, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey conducted from May 6 to 9.

The same Pulso ng Bayan survey also had former President Rodrigo Duterte being trusted by 63% of registered voters.

Under Pulse Asia’s methodology, 1,200 registered voters representing a cross section of voters nationwide were interviewed. The survey had a margin of error of plus to minus 2.8 percent.

Halfway through his six-year term, the president’s trust ratings were actually three percentage points higher than his April 2025 ratings of 29%.

Despite the slight improvement, however, 42% of the May respondents said they did not trust the president.

The presidential palace, meanwhile, opted to ignore the results focusing instead on Mr. Marcos’s reported 61.8% satisfaction rating. The score was supposedly the highest in government.

Malacanang quoted the lesser known Tangere’s nationwide survey as the source of the results, which was conducted on May 8-9.

The survey stated that the president’s high satisfaction rating was primarily driven by support from the lower income classes – socio-economic classes D and E – and from rural areas.

The palace noted that the Tangere findings hewed closely with a recent OCTA Research report saying that the president is the country’s most trusted government official.

Tangere reported that their survey covered a sample size of 1,500 respondents and had a 2.48% margin of error.

It should be noted that Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations are considered the two most credible survey firms, both having been around for decades.

In a related development, a Pulse Asia survey showed that 50% of Filipinos do not agree with the filing of an impeachment complaint by the House of Representatives against VP Duterte.

Of the 50%, no less than 36% said they “strongly disagreed” with the submission of the Articles of Impeachment in the Senate.

Only 28% said they agreed with the filing of the impeachment complaint against the vice president, with nine percent stating that they agreed in the strongest term possible.

Another 19% said they “somewhat” agree with the filing of the impeachment raps against the VP.