A lot of Americans may be lukewarm about their own country right now, but there’s one place that consistently puts the United States on its “good list” — its former colony and longtime ally the Philippines. This was proven once again in a survey released yesterday that showed how a majority of Filipinos still trust the U.S.
In December, local research institution Social Weather Stations (SWS) interviewed 1,200 people aged 18 years old and above from all three major Philippine islands and asked them to rate their trust for 14 countries.
The U.S. — no surprise here — topped the list with a +68 net rating or a “very good,” with 75 percent of people having “much trust” and only 7 percent with “little trust.” This is up 8 points from the last survey SWS held in September.
Filipinos’ trust rating for the U.S. has been positive every time since 1994, when SWS started its trust surveys.
This, despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s mixed insights about the U.S.
In October 2016, Duterte famously said during a speech addressed to Chinese government officials that he will cut ties with the U.S. and “realign” his ideologies with China. He also cursed at then U.S. President Barack Obama, calling him a “son of a whore.”
Duterte’s supporters have also been vocal about decreasing Western influence in the country. Last week, Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez, suggested that the Philippines should leave the United Nations and form a “United Nations of Asia” instead. This was a response to a report from U.S. intel agencies that deemed Duterte as a threat to democracy in the region.
But relations with the U.S. hasn’t been all bad, and Duterte is actually getting along with U.S. President Donald Trump — again, no surprise here. During his visit to the Philippines in November, Trump even went as far as saying that he had a “great relationship” with Duterte.
Despite Duterte’s statement about cutting military ties with the U.S., the administration still welcomed a U.S. aircraft carrier to Manila last week, a way to establish American presence in the country amid China’s controversial activities in Philippine territory.
Government officials like Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar were aboard the aircraft that had about 40 fighter jets and 5,000 American sailors.
Duterte remains popular with many Filipinos, but his stance on international relations has not trickled down to the majority of the country, as seen in the SWS survey.
Despite Duterte’s cozying up to China in recent years, Filipinos are still iffy about their president’s new found friend, only giving the country a neutral rating of +7.
China’s rating has only been positive nine out of 45 times since 1994. Its highest rating was in June 2010, with a “moderate” score of +17 and its lowest was in September 2015, at -46, labeled as “bad.”
READ: Duterte’s political party hosts Xi Jinping’s book launch at 36th anniversary celebration
The country with the lowest rating this year is North Korea, with a -19 score.
The only other countries labeled as “very good” were Canada, with a +55 net rating, and Japan with a +54, a record high rating for the country that could be attributed to its strengthening ties with the Philippines and the several big-ticket projects it is helping finance.
All of the Philippines’ Southeast Asian neighbors included in the survey only received a “moderate” or “neutral” rating, with Singapore receiving the highest net rating at +29 and Laos at +3.
