Filipinos' approval and trust for the top national executives have improved, with Vice-President Binay still posting the highest ratings, a new Pulse Asia survey showed.
Approval for President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III saw an 11-percentage point jump to 78 percent in the September survey from 67 percent in May.
A higher increase of 13 percentage points was seen for Aquino's trust rating, pegged at 78 percent, up from the previous 65 percent.
The President's scores, however, remained only second highest to that of his deputy Jejomar Binay, who saw public approval rise to 85 percent from 81 percent.
Binay's trust rating also increased to 84 percent in September from 78 percent previously.
Commenting on the report, Binay said in a statement: "This further inspires me to pursue my work as a member of the Cabinet in charge of housing and OFW concerns, and as the duly-elected Vice President."
"I would like to assure our people that, together with President Aquino, we will pursue the government’s reform agenda with greater vigor," he added.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also registered a hike in ratings, to 72 percent from 68 percent in terms of approval and to 65 percent from 62 percent in terms of trust.
Getting the lowest scores was House Speaker Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte, with a trust rating of 38 percent, a percentage point higher than 37 percent in May. His approval ratings rose by 7 percentage points but was still at a dismal 36 percent.
Belmonte also posted the highest disapproval rating of 15 percent and indecision rating of 45 percent.
Single-digit disapproval ratings were seen for Aquino (4 percent), Binay (2 percent) and Enrile (6 percent).
Filipinos were also least ambivalent on their assessment of Binay's performance, with 13 percent of respondents undecided compared to Aquino's 18 percent and Enrile's 23 percent.
The top three state institutions also enjoyed approval from majority of Filipinos based on the survey.
Posting the highest approval score was the Senate at 59 percent, followed by the Supreme Court (52 percent) and the House of Representatives (51 percent).
The Pulse Asia survey was conducted through interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7.
Reelectionist Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV became the last senator-elect to have his arms raised by poll officials after the May 13 elections.
