THE response to the pandemic ranging from excellent to poor has put trust in society’s key institutions to the test. Which institutions have stepped up for the Filipinos? And which ones failed to respond to their needs? The EON Group, a communications consultancy firm, conducted nationwide research for the seventh iteration of the Philippine Trust Index (PTI). Conducted from August to September 2021, the research cuts across socioeconomic, educational, geographic and demographic backgrounds to discover just how much Filipinos trust the six key institutions in society: the government, the business sector, the media, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the church and the academe.

The 2021 PTI, titled “Rise & Respond: Trust Rewards the Agile and the Future-Ready,” reveals that the trust level for the business sector declined while the other five institutions were able to maintain or even increase public trust in them from 2019. The research shows a rise in trust in the church, the academe, the media and the NGOs. Getting the highest gain is the NGOs, almost doubling its 2019 trust rating this year. The government’s level of trust, however, has remained constant since 2019.

Aside from their trust levels, the study investigated how the pandemic has changed the Filipinos’ perception of each institution’s trustworthiness based on their respective responses to the current crisis. Only the government saw the change in its negative perception outweighing the change in its positive one. “The pandemic has definitely taken a toll on us and has magnified the importance of trust,” says Junie del Mundo, co-founder and chief executive of the EON Group. “This year’s PTI will give you a better understanding of the state of trust in the Philippines, especially in a society that was torn apart by the cruel effects of a pandemic and the restrictions that it allowed to happen.”

Fluctuations in trust levels per institution between 2019 and 2021 have been observed across different regions in the country. For instance, in the Visayas, the trust in the media jumped to 82 percent in 2021 compared to 51 percent in 2019. Some institutions have seen a huge jump in trust ratings in specific regions, despite having only a moderate increase in their national trust levels. Identifying the areas where trust has increased or decreased could help institutions get a clearer picture on where they might need to improve their leadership and services to their publics. Sentiments of trust expressed in the digital space over the past two years have lowered across almost all institutions. In terms of distrust, the government still holds more unfavorable views of social media users, with negative mentions comprising most online conversations about it.

When it comes to Filipinos’ sentiments about the six institutions’ trustworthiness within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government is the only one where more respondents experienced a negative change in their trust perceptions rather than a positive one, showing their dissatisfaction with its performance. There appears to be a different sentiment in the September survey of OCTA Research, where half of Filipinos still approve of the government’s response to Covid-19. To understand the respondents’ change in trust, they were asked to rate each institution’s pandemic response by selecting one adjective from a pair of descriptors. The church received the greatest number of positive descriptions, scoring high in leadership, while business got the least, scoring the lowest in both leadership and speed in organizational pivot.

They also asked respondents to rate societal leaders. The survey shows that religious leaders, journalists and media professionals are the most trusted. Business leaders earned the lowest scores, consistent with the respondents’ general perception of their institution. Trust in the church has remained high since 2017. The institution rates the highest among Baby Boomers and North/Central Luzon residents, though its trust levels in South Luzon and Mindanao decreased.

Despite the demanding conditions of the past two years, 91 percent of the respondents chose the Philippines to be their country of permanent residence even if travel restrictions are eased post-pandemic. Those who said that they have plans to leave the country would depart not to migrate but to pursue better work opportunities abroad.