MANILA (UPDATE) —Three out four Filipinos remain "very" satisfied with President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, a survey conducted in the third quarter of the year by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed Wednesday.

Of 1,800 Filipino adults, 77 percent were satisfied with the national government's general performance, 11 percent were undecided, and 10 percent were dissatisfied.

This yielded a plus-67 net satisfaction rating, 6 points lower than the record high plus-73 the administration achieved in the previous quarter.

The pollster attributed the lower rating to the declines in satisfaction in Mindanao, Balance Luzon and Visayas.

The government's satisfaction rating dropped by 1 point in the Visayas (plus-70 in September from plus-71 in June), Mindanao by 10 points (plus-70 in September from plus-80 in June) and by 10 points in Balance Luzon (plus-63 in September from plus-73 in June).

The national government's satisfaction rating, meanwhile, increased by 12 points in Metro Manila, from a "very good" plus-59 in June to an "excellent" plus-71 in September.

Meanwhile, satisfaction with the government dropped by 7 points in Class D or the "masa" (from plus-73 in June to plus-66 in September) and 5 points in Class E (from plus-73 in June to plus-68 in September).

However, satisfaction with the government rose from a "very good" plus-60 in June to an "excellent" plus-78 in September in Class A, B and C.

Malacañang, in a statement Thursday, welcomed the survey results which, it said, shows that "a significant number of our countrymen possesses discernment that can stand and see beyond the endless politicking managed by the opposition."

"(For the President), the true measure of proper governance and public service is accomplishing the job entrusted to him by the electorate without expecting any reward for it," Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

REPORT CARD

The survey also found that the Duterte administration registered declines on 7 subjects, improvements on 3 subjects and steady ratings on 5 subjects.

The government's ratings dropped from "excellent" to "very good" on helping the poor, down 8 points from plus-70 in June to plus-62 in September.

The numbers also fell from "very good" to "good" on the subjects of fighting terrorism (plus-49 in September from plus-55 in June), protecting the freedom of the press (plus-47 in September from plus-56 in June), fighting crimes (plus-43 in September from plus-50 in June) and foreign relations (plus-39 in September from plus-52 in June).

The government's rating, likewise, fell from a "good" plus-34 in June to a "moderate" plus-28 in September on the subject of ensuring that no family will ever be hungry, and from a "moderate" plus-14 in June to a "neutral" plus-5 in September on the subject fighting inflation.

The government's rating on having clear policies went up by 13 points from June's plus-40 "good" rating to a "very good" plus-53 in September.

The government also improved on the subjects of developing a healthy economy and acting according to what the people want, which both got a "good" rating from the previous years' "moderate" rating.

The people's satisfaction rating on the subjects of reconciling with Muslim rebels, reconciling with communist rebels, eradicating graft and corruption, recovering ill-gotten wealth of former president Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies and defending Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea all went down but were able to stay within the "good" category.

The third quarter poll was conducted from September 27 to 30. It has a margin of error of ±2.6 percent for national figures; ±4 percent each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao; and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila and the Visayas.