Filipinos who trust Marcos cite anti-corruption efforts, Pulse survey shows

A Pulse Asia survey on Wednesday showed that the main reason given by those who trust President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. was his fight against corruption, with 28.6%.

This was the top reason cited by respondents from Metro Manila (37.1%), those in the rest of Luzon (29.4%), and those belonging to Class D (30.3%). 

Meanwhile, almost the same percentages of Visayans and those in Class E trusted him either because of his fight against corruption (23.7% to 26.3%) or due to the improvements in Filipinos' lives resulting from his administration’s programs (30.2% to 31.6%).

Among Mindanao residents, the most often cited reasons were the improvements in the Filipinos’ quality of life that they credit to Marcos' programs (25.7%), his initiatives to help those affected by calamities (18.3%), and his efforts to give financial assistance, or ayuda, to those in need (18.3%). 

The survey also showed that as for those in Class ABC, their top reasons were because the President helps disaster victims (28.0%), he fights corruption (21.9%), and he extends assistance to the agricultural sector (11.4%).

The other reasons for trusting the President were his measures in helping calamity-hit areas and victims (12.4%), his administration’s programs succeeding in improving the lives of Filipinos (10.9%), and his efforts to help farmers (9.9%). 

Further, other reasons are given by at most 4.9% of those who trust the latter.

Meanwhile, those who cannot say if they trust or distrust the President (39.3%) attribute their indecision to Marcos' inability to control the rising price of basic commodities. 

The survey fieldwork was conducted from February 27 to March 2, 2026 using face-to-face interviews. 

This nationwide survey is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.

VP Sara

For Vice President Sara Duterte, the majority of Filipino adults who trust her (54%) were divided as regards the reason behind this sentiment, with their top reasons for having a positive opinion about her trustworthiness being her being capable of governing (12.8%), pro-poor (12.7%), courageous (12.4%), and helpful (9.1%) as well as her having strong convictions (9.0%) and being quick to respond to calamities (7.9%). 

Other reasons were cited by at most 5.4% of those trusting the Vice President.

When it comes to distrust in the Vice President, her alleged involvement in corrupt activities was the leading reason not only in the Philippines as a whole (51.5%) but also in each area and class (47.9% to 90.7% and 47.8% to 60.3%, respectively). 

Further, around a fifth of those distrusting the latter (21.4%) attribute this sentiment to the threats she has made against the administration and those critical of her. 

Other reasons were given by at most 5.4% of those with a negative sentiment toward her trustworthiness.

The survey also showed that at the national level (51.0%) and across all geographic and socioeconomic subgroupings (42.2% to 81.7% and 48.6% to 63.6%, respectively), near to huge majorities are unable to say if they trust or distrust the Vice-President because of 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. —VAL, GMA Integrated News