MANILA (UPDATE) - Ninety-one percent of Filipinos approve of President Rodrigo Duterte's performance in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, private pollster Pulse Asia claimed Monday.

The survey conducted last September 14-20 showed that 91 percent approved of the President's performance, 5 percent disapproved while 5 percent were undecided.

Vice-President Leni Robredo had 57 percent approval rating, 22 percent disapproval and 21 percent undecided.

Senate President Tito Sotto garnered 84 percent approval rating with only 6 percent disapproval and 10 percent undecided.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who is facing controversy over a term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, garnered 70 percent approval, 10 percent disapproval and 19 percent undecided.

Only Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta failed to obtain a majority approval score at 44 percent, compared to 37 percent undecided and 13 percent disapproval.

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In an interview on ANC, Pulse Asia President Ronnie Holmes said those who answered the survey may have attributed the decline in the economy more to the pandemic than to what the government did or did not do.

"One is that the situation we were faced with from March and in the time of the survey, essentially involves a global pandemic. So the situation in each country differs from each other. We think people basically attribute the decline of the economy more to the global pandemic rather than essentially the work or the ineptitude of the government for that matter," he said.

He also said that Duterte's move to impose a lockdown starting March 15 was seen as a positive move.

"The other thing we should try to take note of, is in the case of President Duterte, while critics would point out that his actions were less than good at the start, when COVID-19 was not yet a pandemic, by March 15 he took on his own version of the rule of law and imposed a long lockdown which his supporters are saying, at least those who speak on his behalf, are saying, we have actually reduced the number of cases or the spread of the pandemic altogether."

"So there are competing views here, what we’ve noted in the survey is that there is more appreciation in terms of the president’s performance in general," Holmes added.

In terms of Robredo's and Peralta's performances, Holmes said it is difficult to pinpoint where the low ratings came from.

"It’s pretty hard to pinpoint a specific factor. But it might be largely the extent by which there are reports that capture what the vice president has done relative to, let’s say, initiatives taken by the presidency or any other member of the executive for that matter," he explained.