HALF of Filipinos believe the country is headed in the right direction under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., according to the latest PUBLiCUS Asia Survey released on Thursday.

The Pahayag Third Quarter poll conducted from Sept. 16-20, 2022, said 51 percent of the citizenry are optimistic that the Philippines’ current state is strong, while 71 percent believe the Philippines is in the right direction, and 65 percent remain hopeful that things will pick up for the remainder of the year.

The figures are slightly lower compared to the second quarter numbers, but the “outlook remains positive” due to the government’s projection that the “economic and financial situations will improve,” PUBLiCUS noted.

The 1,500 respondents listed the Philippine economy, corruption, poverty, high prices/inflation, and jobs creation as the most pressing issues they hope the Chief Executive will address.

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte is the most trusted government official with a 66 percent approval rating followed by Marcos who garnered 62 percent. Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri came in third with 50 percent, followed by House Speaker Martin Romualdez with 46 percent and Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo with 41 percent.

They had the same rankings in the trust ratings with Duterte getting 62 percent, Marcos with 58 percent, Zubiri with 41 percent, Romualdez with 39 percent and Gesmundo with 35 percent.

As for government agencies, the Armed Forces of the Philippines continues to get one of the highest approvals with 67 percent, along with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority which dropped from 72 percent in the second quarter to 68 percent in the third quarter.

The biggest gainers are the Department of Education and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, each with a 10-point increase in approval from the second quarter.

Other gainers are the Supreme Court (+5), Department of Health (+7), Department of

Agriculture (+4), Department of Justice (+5) and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (+5).

The Commission on Elections (-12) and Department of Public Works and Highways (-10), on the other hand, suffered a decline.

Pahayag Third Quarter Survey is an independent, noncommissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia.