MANILA (Reuters) – President Ferdinand Marcos has suffered a “significant” drop in his approval rating as soaring consumer prices in the Philippines undermines his support, a polling organisation said on Monday.
The Pulse Asia Survey, conducted from Sept. 10 to 14, found 65% of 1,200 respondents approved of the president’s performance, down 15 points from 80% in a June poll, marking the first decline in approval scores for the son of the late Philippine strongman, also Ferdinand Marcos.
Marcos secured a landslide victory in a presidential election last year in the first win by a majority since a 1986 “people power” uprising that brought an end to his father’s two-decade rule. The older Marcos died in 1989 in Hawaii.
“Continuing increase in prices of basic commodities and services and unfulfilled promise of reducing these,” likely caused the “significant” drop in the approval ratings, said Ronald Holmes, president of Pulse Asia.
Marcos’ presidential communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Marcos, who is also agriculture secretary, has struggled to keep inflation in check, with the pace of price increases still outside the government’s 2%-4% target despite interventions like food tariff cuts.
The annual rate of inflation was 6.6% at the end of August.
Last month, Marcos imposed price ceilings for rice.
Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, also suffered a decline in approval ratings, dropping 11 points to 73%.
($1 = 56.60 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; editing by Robert Birsel)
