The Tide Goes Out on the UniTeam: A Coroner’s Report on a Drowning Presidency

By Louis “Barok” C. Biraogo — November 7, 2025

The Numbers Are In—and They Sound Like a Coffin Closing

The numbers are in, and they carry the distinct sound of a tide rushing out. For the once-unassailable “UniTeam” of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, the cold water of reality is finally lapping at their ankles—57% trust for Marcos, down a brutal 7 points in a single quarter; 54% performance approval, bleeding 8 points like a wound that won’t clot. Duterte fares little better, her trust scraping 51% after a 3-point stumble, her performance at a limp 49%. OCTA Research‘s Q3 Tugon ng Masa survey, snapped between September 30 and October 4, isn’t just data—it’s the echo of a storm that’s been building since the flood-control billions vanished into ghost projects and overpriced dreams.

**Unity was just the campaign flavor—now taste the bitter after-bite of 2028 ambition.**

Forensic Files: Where the Knives Went In

Let’s perform the autopsy while the body’s still warm. Marcos’ sharpest knives twist in the Visayas, where trust craters 14 points from 67% to 53%, and the National Capital Region (NCR), down 9 points to 55%. Why these urban and central strongholds? Because that’s where the “Trillion-Peso March” protests erupted on September 21, where placards screamed about billions siphoned into duplicate dikes and phantom pumps while actual floods swallowed homes. The scandal—allegations of contractor cartels, overpricing, and congressional complicity—hit front pages just as typhoons battered the same regions. It seems the public can tell the difference between concrete floodwalls and castles in the air, funded by ghost deliverables.

Balance Luzon holds firmer at 67% trust, but even there, distrust creeps up. Mindanao? A dismal 43% trust for Marcos, with distrust surging 8 points to 43%—a region that never forgot the Dutertes and now punishes the son for promising unity while delivering division.

Duterte clings to her bailiwick like a life raft: 80% trust in Mindanao, even if her performance there dips 11 points to 80%. Elsewhere, she’s drowning—30% trust in NCR, where disapproval hits 37%. Her numbers fray but don’t snap, buoyed by Class E loyalty at 64%. Yet the irony drips: the daughter of the iron-fisted “punisher” watches her own ratings erode amid a corruption probe that implicates allies in her father’s old orbit. The UniTeam’s public spats—her June resignation from the Department of Education (DepEd), the simmering 2028 succession wars—turn what was once a tandem into a tag-team wrestle. The public isn’t blind; they see the fracture and mark it down in red ink.

**The data screams the truth—are you brave enough to listen?**

Pollster Conspiracy? Try a Chorus of Condemnation

And spare me the conspiracy whispers that this is one rogue poll. Pulse Asia, fielding September 27–30, clocks Marcos at a grim 33% approval—disapproval outpacing approval for the first time. Social Weather Stations (SWS), surveying late September, pegs trust even lower. Different questions, yes—trust versus approval versus performance—but the chorus sings the same dirge: downward.

All three pollsters, with their 1,200-sample face-to-face rigor, capture the same inflection point: the flood-control probes, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) asset freezes, the independent commission, the Black Friday rallies. Add the peso breaching P58 to the dollar, inflation gnawing at rice bowls, and you have a perfect storm of salience. This isn’t statistical noise; it’s a unanimous verdict from the vox populi.

The Aftermath: A Lame Duck in Designer Shoes

The consequences loom like monsoon clouds ready to burst. Politically, a president below 60% trust is a lame duck in designer shoes—his legislative agenda, from Charter change to budget priorities, now faces congressional allies implicated in the scandal digging in their heels or jumping ship. The coalition frays; opposition smells blood.

Governance stalls: cabinet “resets” become musical chairs, policy pivots look like panic. Socially, the threat is visceral—if accountability feels like another ghost project, the streets will fill again. Sustained unrest isn’t hyperbole; it’s the logical endpoint of a public that marched with trillions in grievances and got platitudes in return.

Last Chance Before the Deluge

This is no mere dip; it’s a warning shot across the bow of a ship taking on water. Marcos and Duterte can still right the course, but only with a reckoning swift and surgical: publish the audits, prosecute the contractors, freeze the bank accounts that matter, and deliver floodwalls that actually hold back water, not just taxpayer pesos. Transparency isn’t a press release—it’s daylight on the ledgers. Genuine service means prioritizing the flooded barangays over the photo-ops.

Anything less, and the tide won’t just retreat; it will sweep the UniTeam into the footnotes of history. The Filipino people have spoken in percentages. Listen, or be drowned out.