US most trustworthy, China most distrusted among Pinoys —Pulse Asia

With the return of the Balangiga bells last month, the United States has remained the most trusted country of Filipinos at 84 percent, a five-point increase compared with last year, results from a Pulse Asia survey released on Monday revealed.

The Pulse Asia poll, conducted from December 14 to 21, 2018, showed the US as the most trustworthy country garnering 84 percent, broken down to 29 percent of respondents having a great deal of trust and 54 percent having a fair amount of trust in it.

The same poll showed only 16 percent of Filipinos do not trust the United States (13 percent not too much trust, 2 percent no trust at all, and 1 percent don't know or refused).

The Balangiga bells were returned by the US Department of Defense on Dec. 11, 2018 to their Philippine counterparts, 117 years after these were seized by the Americans as war booty. The Americans took the bells after American troops massacred thousands of Filipinos in Samar, a massacre that was in retaliation for an ambush by Filipino guerrillas wherein at least 40 American soldiers were killed. 

The second most trustworthy country among Filipinos is Japan with 75 percent, followed by Australia (72 percent) and United Kingdom (57 percent).

Filipinos, however, recorded continued distrust in China despite the Duterte administration's push for a cordial relationship with the Chinese amid China's reclamation activities within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea.

The Pulse Asia survey showed 60 percent of Filipinos do not trust China as against 39 percent of those who do.

Sought for comment, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Filipinos' perception of China may change once they see Beijing's "sincerity" with respect to agreements signed by both countries.

"I think some time ago I have already responded to that question. There was a similar survey on that and I said that it’s understandable for Filipino’s to feel that way. Because ngayon pa lang eh. We have been used to the States being our ally, so mas sanay tayo sa Amerika," Panelo told reporters.

"But siguro as we go along at nakita na iyong sincerity ng China with respect to agreements between the two countries, eh baka mabago iyong kanilang pananaw," he added.

Russia

The second least trustworthy country for Filipinos is Russia, with 54 percent saying they do not trust Moscow as against 45 percent who do.

The Pulse Asia nationwide survey was conducted face-to-face among 1,800 adults aged 18 years old and above.

It has a margin of error of ±2.3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey, on the other hand, have the following error margins at 95 percent confidence level: ±6.5 percent for Metro Manila, ± 3.5 percent for the rest of Luzon, ±5.2 percent for Visayas and ±4.7 percent for Mindanao. —Llanesca T. Panti with Virgil Lopez/KG/RSJ, GMA News