Vice President Sara Duterte emerged as the only top national government official to receive majority approval and trust ratings, according to the Pulse Asia March 2025 Ulat ng Bayan survey released on Wednesday.
Among the country’s four highest-ranking government officials — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Vice President Duterte, Senate President Francis Escudero, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez — only Duterte garnered majority support, achieving an approval rating of 59%. She also recorded a 25% undecided rating and a 16% disapproval score.
The vice president’s approval rating was highest in the National Capital Region (NCR) at +22, followed by the Visayas (+17), Balanced Luzon (+5), and Mindanao (+3). Her approval rating also peaked among Class E (+13), Class ABC (+11), and Class D (+7).
In contrast, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trust and performance ratings saw a significant decline in March.
According to the survey, Marcos’ approval rating dropped by 17 percentage points, falling from 42% in February to 25% in March, while his disapproval rating surged by 21 points to 53%. His performance rating notably declined by 24 percentage points in the National Capital Region, followed by Balanced Luzon (-20), Mindanao (-14), and the Visayas (-10).
The survey also highlighted that a majority of Filipinos, or 54%, expressed a lack of trust in the President, up from 32% previously. Pulse Asia emphasized that Marcos’ trust rating plummeted the most in NCR, with a 24-point drop, followed by Balanced Luzon (-22), Mindanao (-13), and the Visayas (-9).
The President’s trust rating fell most sharply among Class D (-18), followed by Class E (-10), and Class ABC (-8).
Meanwhile, the trust and performance ratings of Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Speaker Martin Romualdez also declined during the same period.
Pulse Asia reported that Escudero’s approval rating dropped by 8 percentage points, while his disapproval rating rose by 6 points. Romualdez’s approval rating remained unchanged, but his disapproval rating increased to 54% in March 2025, a 14-point rise since February.
Escudero’s trust rating fell from 47% in February 2025 to 38% in March 2025, while his distrust rating increased from 14% to 20%. Similarly, 57% of Filipinos expressed distrust toward Romualdez in March 2025, a 15-point increase from 42% in February.
According to the polling firm, skepticism was most pronounced among individuals in Balanced Luzon (+17) and NCR (+16), followed by the Visayas (+14) and Mindanao (+12).
The survey was conducted between March 23 and 29, 2025, and included 2,400 adult Filipinos selected through multi-stage probability sampling. Participants were interviewed in person.
The survey has a margin of error of ±2% for the entire country, ±6% for NCR, ±5% for the Visayas, and ±4% for Northern/Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, and Mindanao, at a 95% confidence level.
