MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo's trust ratings dropped in the last quarter of 2016 after she resigned from the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

The poll, conducted from December 6 to 11 among 1,200 respondents, showed Robredo's national trust score at 58 percent, down seven percentage points from her 65 percent in September.

Duterte meanwhile received 83 percent for his trustworthiness, only three points lower than his previous rating.

Pulse Asia noted that Robredo and Duterte are the only officials trusted by a majority of Filipinos.

The polling firm started conducting the survey just two days after Robredo resigned as Duterte's Housing Secretary due to her "irreconcilable and public" differences with the President.

Also among the events before and during the poll period were the Senate investigation of the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.; the Supreme Court's dismissal of petitions against the hero's burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos; and the decision of the high court to clear three judges tagged by Duterte as "narco-officials."

The survey had a error margins of ±3% at the national level and ± 6% for regional estimates.

Robredo's spokesperson Georgina Hernandez said the vice-president's camp is taking the latest Pulse Asia survey result as an "opportunity for the Vice President to continue on improving her service and performance to the Filipino people."

"We know very well that Vice President Leni Robredo is a listening vice-president and she takes these results of Pulse Asia and SWS as a way for her to improve so that she serve the people better," she said in an ANC's News Now interview.

Hernandez added they also recognize that Robredo continues to enjoy "majority trust rating" from the public, and vowed that Robredo will continue to lead their office so that they are able to serve the needs of the Filipino people, "particularly those at the fringes of society."

She reported that the Office of the Vice President is currently working with the private sector and civil society partners to make this happen.

APPROVAL, DISAPPROVAL RATINGS

According to the survey, only half of Filipinos trust Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III while 41 percent trust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and 38 percent find House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez trustworthy.

The same survey found that most Filipinos express appreciation for the quarterly performance of Duterte (83 percent), Robredo (62 percent ), and Pimentel (55 percent).

"Public opinion concerning the work done by these top officials remains generally unchanged between September and December 2016," the pollster noted.

Sereno only bagged a 47-percent approval score and (47%) while the Alvarez got 43 percent.

Pulse Asia also measured the disapproval ratings of the five officials, with Duterte getting the lowest at 5 percent and Robredo scoring the highest at 16 percent.

"Between September and December 2016, the only significant movement in these officials’ national performance ratings is the increase in the overall disapproval score of Vice-President Robredo (+7 percentage points)," Pulse said.