President Duterte’s tirades against the United States and friendly stance toward China seems to have dissonance with public sentiment as the United States remains the country most trusted by Filipinos while China is among the least trusted, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
In the SWS survey, conducted from Dec. 8 to 16, results of which were released late Wednesday, 75 percent said they trusted the United States while 7 percent had little trust, resulting in a still “very good” plus-68 net trust rating, up from plus-60 in September.
‘Poor’ to ‘neutral’
Net trust in China also improved from a “poor” minus-13 (27 percent much trust, 39 percent little trust) in September to “neutral” plus-7 (38 percent much trust, 31 percent little trust) in December.
China, though, was the third least trusted by Filipinos, just ahead of Laos (plus-3) and North Korea (minus-19).
Two other countries got “very good” net trust ratings in the fourth quarter—Canada, which got plus-55 and Japan, which received plus-54.
Canada’s net rating improved from a “good” plus-41 in September 2015, when it was last included in the survey, while Japan’s score went up from plus-46 recorded in June 2017.
Net scores of six neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region were upgraded to “moderate.”
Singapore rises
Net trust in Singapore rose to plus-29 from a “poor” minus-21 in June 1997.
It was plus-20 from “neutral” minus-1 (September 2015) for Malaysia; plus-19 from “neutral” 0 (November 2014) for Thailand; plus-18 from “neutral” minus-4 (August 2012) for Indonesia; plus-16 from “neutral” plus-7 (August 1994) for Brunei; and plus-13 from “poor” minus-14 recorded last third quarter for Vietnam.
The net trust rating of Cambodia also increased from “poor” minus-16 in August 2012 to “neutral” plus-7.
The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points for national percentages.—ANA ROA, INQUIRER RESEARCH