Duterte on big drop in net satisfaction rating: 'I do not care'

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday shrugged off the result of the latest survey showing his net satisfaction rating has fallen to a personal low.

According to the Social Weather Stations' survey findings for the second quarter of 2018, Duterte's satisfaction rating fell 11 percentage points to +45 from +56 in March.

The 11-point decline pushed Duterte down by one grade from very good to good in the scale of SWS, which conducted face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide from June 27 to 30.

"Bumaba? I do not care...Wala na ako dyan. It does not interest me at all," Duterte told reporters in Clark, Pampanga.

"Basta ako coast along na lang ako...and with the new suggestion since I'm not popular anymore, Congress might decide to find a popular one. You want a popular president?  Fine. Good," he added.

Duterte earlier asked the Consultative Committee, which drafted a federal constitution, and Congress to craft a provision that would enable him to step down from office as early as next year once the proposed charter is ratified in a plebiscite.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, meanwhile, said the chief executive’s +45 rating during the said period remained the highest, compared to his last three predecessors. 

During the end of their second year in office, Presidents Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno Aquino III received net satisfaction ratings of +5 in March 2000, +6 in November 2002, and +42 in May 2012, respectively.

"The survey evidently showed that — despite several challenges surrounding his presidency at the time the survey was conducted —  President Duterte still enjoyed the confidence of the majority of Filipinos with 'good' net satisfaction ratings in Metro Manila, Balanced Luzon, and the Visayas and 'excellent' net satisfaction rating in Mindanao," Roque said. 

"Regardless of numbers, we assure everyone that the President and the members of his Cabinet would continue to work double-time in bringing the fruits of a better and more inclusive economy, and in strengthening the government’s drive against illegal drugs, crime, and corruption," the Palace official said.

SWS released the survey results a few weeks before his third State of the Nation Address on July 23.

Duterte will deliver his third report to the nation before a joint session of Congress amid criticisms over his human rights record, policy on the South China Sea dispute, rising commodity prices, and stalled peace negotiations with the communist rebels.

He has since instructed policemen to exercise "maximum tolerance" towards protesters. —JST, GMA News