Marcos trust numbers slip amid flood control mess – SWS survey

MANILA, Philippines — A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey commissioned by consultancy firm Stratbase showed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trust ratings dip further — back to 2025 elections levels — amid a flood control corruption scandal that’s touched most corners of government, including friends and close allies of the President himself.

According to the survey, conducted by SWS from November 24 to 30 but released only on Friday, December 26, 38% of respondents said they had “much trust” in the President, down five percentage points from his September 2025 numbers.

The percentage of respondents with “little trust” towards Marcos went up five percentage points, to 41% in November 2025 from 36% in September 2025. Undecided — or whether they had much or little trust — remained virtually unchanged at 20% in November 2025 from 21% in September 2025.

SWS confirmed the results of the survey in a separate December 26 release. According to the survey firm, 1,200 adults were surveyed through face to face interviews. The survey had a sampling error margin of ±3 percentage points for national percentages, and ±6 points for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. 

Stratbase’s questions were part of a larger Fourth Quarter 2025 Social Weather Report by SWS.

The November 38% trust rating is close to the levels Marcos registered from March to May 2025, or the months that followed his administration’s decision to send former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he now awaits trial over his bloody drug war.

Marcos’ numbers picked up in June 2025 — rising to 48% from the previous 38% in May 2025. But they quickly went down again in September 2025.

When the survey was being conducted, massive anti-corruption protests were about to happen across the country, a repeat of massive protests in September 2025.

A week prior to the SWS survey commissioned by Stratbase, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) held a two-day rally for justice and peace. It was supposed to last three days but was cut short — but not before presidential sister Senator Imee Marcos accused her younger brother of drug use.

President Marcos has brushed off his sister’s allegations and has, in turn, said he and his family were “worried” about her.

The Marcos administration has been trying to navigate a massive flood control project corruption scandal that was first triggered by the President’s own State of the Nation Address in July 2025.

Since Marcos promised to chase after those who profited from anomalous flood control projects, investigations have exposed possible acts of corruption or glaring conflicts of interest by those in government and contractors involved in public works projects.

Trust towards Marcos was highest in Balance Luzon (50%), Metro Manila (36%), and then Luzon (35%). It was lowest in the Duterte bailiwick of Mindanao (20%), where majority (58%) said they had “little trust” towards the President. Balance Luzon typically covers Luzon outside Metro Manila, and includes the Ilocos Region, Marcos’ bailiwick.

Vice President Sara Duterte’s trust ratings rose slightly to 56% in the November survey, from 53% in September the same year. The younger Duterte was most trusted in the Visayas (64%) and Mindanao (83%), her stronghold.

Her trust numbers were also higher than Marcos’ in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila (42%) but lower in Balance Luzon (44%).

Stratbase Group founder and CEO Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, in their release to media, said the survey results “show…not mere dissatisfaction but a more deliberate and firm demand for accountability.”

Marcos earlier promised that “many” personalities in the flood control mess would be in jail by Christmas. Warrants have since been issued by Philippine courts — yet resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co, who once chaired the powerful appropriations committee — is still nowhere to be found after he left the country as probes into the flood control mess began.

In December 2025, two of the three commissioners Marcos appointed to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) resigned. – Rappler.com