Aquino, Roxas: We have trust of most Filipinos

Liberal Party standard bearers Senators Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel "Mar" Roxas II received the highest public trust ratings in a Pulse Asia survey in late February.

The Pulse Asia survey conducted from February 21 to 25 among 1,800 respondents, also showed Aquino and Roxas topping voters’ preferences for President and Vice President if elections were held during that time, a statement from Roxas' office said.

"In contrast, voters’ trust for their rivals Senator Manuel Villar and Sen. Loren Legarda declined, with Villar suffering a double-digit drop despite the more than P1 billion he had spent on TV and radio advertisements since last year," the Liberal Party statement said.

It said Pulse Asia found out that Aquino enjoyed the “big trust” of 64 percent of respondents, "making him the most trusted candidate for President." Only 14 percent of voters said they had “small/no trust” for Aquino, with the rest undecided.

On the other hand, Roxas had 70 percent of the respondents saying they had “big trust” in him, with only 10 percent having “small/no trust” and the rest undecided, the statement said.

"Aquino’s high trust ratings is in contrast to Filipino voters’ perception of his main rival Villar, whose trust ratings dipped to 59 percent due to an 11-point drop among Filipinos with ”big trust” in him," it added.

The statement said Legarda’s trust rating likewise went down to 58 percent, or a drop of three percent from her January trust rating.

Among the presidential candidates, former president Joseph Estrada came third, with 40 percent, followed by administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro with 29 percent. Senator Dick Gordon came next with a 25 percent rating, the statement said.

In the vice presidential race, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay came third, with only 45 percent; former MMDA chief Bayani Fernando with 22 percent and by actor Edu Manzano, 19 percent.

"The Pulse Asia trust survey validates results of recent pre-election preference surveys conducted by independents pollsters, where Aquino and Roxas thumped their rivals with wide margins," the statement said.

"Aquino and Roxas are campaigning on a platform of good governance and transformational leadership and have repeatedly vowed to make themselves examples that could be emulated by the rest in government, including a promise to open their bank accounts to public scrutiny to stress their commitment to wipe out graft and corruption in government," it added.