MANILA - The net satisfaction rating of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration remains "very good" but declined in Luzon and among the country’s poorest, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

This following the dip in the chief executive's own ratings under the pollster from 'very good' to 'good' last month.

A separate Pulse Asia Survey found that Duterte has retained "big majority" approval and trust ratings despite criticism over his drug war and an Ombudsman investigation into his and his family's wealth.

The SWS survey, done on Sept. 23 to 27, the same period its poll on Duterte was conducted, found 71 percent of adult Filipinos satisfied, 16 percent neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 13 percent dissatisfied with the general performance of the national administration.

This resulted in a net satisfaction rating of +58, 6 points below the previous quarter’s +64 but is still “very good.”

SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of at least +70 as “excellent”; +50 to +69 as “very good”; +30 to +49 “good”; +10 to +29 “moderate”; +9 to -9 “neutral”; -10 to -29 “poor”; -30 to -49 “bad”; -50 to -69 “very bad”; and -70 and below as “execrable.”

SWS attributed the 6-point decline to the 16-point and 11-point drops in the administration's net satisfaction scores in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, respectively.

The pollster said the administration’s net rating stayed “excellent” in Mindanao at +74, up by 2 points from +72 in June 2017. It stayed “very good” in the Visayas at +57 in September, a point up from +56 in June.

It also stayed “very good” in Balance Luzon at +52 and Metro Manila at +51 despite the 11-point and 16-point drops, respectively.

Malacañang welcomed the latest SWS survey, saying this shows that “our people continue to recognize the hard work of the Duterte administration.”

“The current government’s efforts to bring comfortable life for all have started to bear fruits with Filipinos rating the Administration ‘very good’ in the areas of helping the poor, protecting the environment, defending the country’s territorial rights, and providing jobs,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

“Rest assured that the whole executive branch under the leadership of PRRD (Duterte) will continue to lay down the foundations of a progressive and inclusive nation where there is prosperity, trustworthy government and long-lasting peace.”

22-POINT DROP AMONG COUNTRY’S POOREST

In terms of socioeconomic status, the administration’s net rating stayed “very good” in Class ABC at +60, 5 points higher compared to last quarter’s +55.

It also stayed “very good” in Class D (masa) at +60, although 4 points below its +64 rating in the previous quarter.

The administration’s net rating suffered a 22-point drop among those in Class E, the country’s poorest, to +46 in September from +68 in the previous quarter.

The survey was conducted just as the Duterte administration drew criticism for its drug war, which critics have described as anti-poor.

Amid allegations of police abuses, the President recently ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to take the lead in the anti-drug campaign, aiming “to bring order” and “[pinpoint] precise accountability” in its enforcement.

The Philippine National Police then terminated "Oplan Tokhang," its house-to-house knock-and-plead anti-drug program.

SATISFACTION DOWN ON ERADICATING GRAFT, FIGHTING CRIMES and SOLVING EJKS

Meanwhile, SWS said that out of 17 specific performance subjects, the net satisfaction ratings of the Duterte administration were “very good” on 4 subjects, “good” on 8 subjects, and “moderate” on 5 subjects

SWS said the administration was “very good” on helping the poor (+67), protecting the environment (+58), defending the country's territorial rights (+52), and providing jobs (+50).

It was rated "good" on the following: distributing lands to deserving tillers under land reform (+49), fighting terrorism (+47), protecting human rights(+46), foreign relations (+40), reconciling with Muslim rebels (+38), eradicating graft and corruption (+35), reconciling with communist rebels (+35), and fighting crimes (+30).

It was meanwhile rated "moderate" on the following: ensuring that no family will ever be hungry (+29), recovering ''hidden wealth'' stolen by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies (+28), resolving the traffic problem (+22), solving the problem of extrajudicial killings or EJK (+22), and fighting inflation (+21).

SWS said the net satisfaction scores of the administration hardly changed in most of the performance subjects, except on eradicating graft and corruption (8 points down to +35), fighting crimes (13 points down to +35), protecting human rights (down by 9 points to +46), and solving the problem of extrajudicial killings (down by 12 points to +22).

• READ: PNP says one... er, zero EJKs under Duterte admin

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults. It had sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.