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Badge of Dishonor: When Fighting Corruption Means Your Trust Rating Hits Rock Bottom

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Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

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Badge of Dishonor: When Fighting Corruption Means Your Trust Rating Hits Rock Bottom
Two Philippines, Zero Accountability: Luzon Clings to Marcos, Mindanao Worships Duterte, Everyone Loses

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — January 1, 2026

IN THE sweltering heat of Manila’s political season, a December 2025 Pulse Asia survey arrived like a monsoon downpour — revealing a nation soaked in disillusionment.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s net trust rating slipped to 32%, down two points from September, with nearly half the country expressing distrust. Vice President Sara Duterte held steady at 54% trust — still a majority, but a dip nonetheless. Performance ratings mirrored the gloom: Marcos at a meager 34% approval, Duterte at 56%.

These are not mere statistical tremors within the margin of error. They signal a profound crisis of legitimacy for Marcos, whose numbers suggest a leader barely staying afloat. Duterte’s higher scores reflect a political brand built on fierce regional loyalty — resilient, but no longer untouchable.

Most damning of all: across 18 key issues, the national administration earns majority approval on exactly one — protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers. On everything else — inflation, jobs, poverty, corruption — Filipinos hand their government a failing grade. This is not just a survey; it is a national referendum on betrayal.

Geographically, the archipelago is splitting into two Philippines. Marcos clings to Luzon, his traditional bailiwick. Duterte dominates the Visayas and Mindanao — enjoying near-unanimous support in the south. This fracture is more than electoral trivia; it threatens the very cohesion required to govern a nation.

“While the north bails with broken spoons, the south fires durian missiles—both miss the point.”

The Rot Beneath the Numbers

At the core of this erosion lies a massive corruption scandal in flood control projects so brazen it turns tragedy into farce. Flood control projects — intended to shield lives and homes — became vehicles for plunder. Audits uncovered hundreds of “ghost” projects: fully funded, fully paid, yet utterly nonexistent, with at least 421 identified as non-existent out of 8,000 inspected. Estimates place stolen funds in the tens to perhaps hundreds of billions of pesos since 2016, with kickbacks funneled to a handful of favored contractors.

The Palace’s defense? A masterpiece of self-serving absurdity. Officials cast Marcos’s declining ratings as a “badge of honor” — proof he is courageously battling graft, even if it costs him popularity. Yet high-profile convictions remain conspicuously absent. Probes crawl, allies appear shielded, and the entire “crackdown” increasingly resembles political theater designed to settle scores rather than deliver justice.

Now connect these vanished billions to the public’s top concerns:

  • Controlling inflation (No. 1)
  • Fighting graft and corruption (No. 2)
  • Increasing workers’ pay
  • Reducing poverty
  • Creating more jobs

Stolen public money is not abstract. It is food taken from tables, wages left unpaid, futures abandoned to floodwaters. In a country where millions live hand-to-mouth, this is moral theft on an industrial scale.

Is Pulse Asia Telling the Whole Truth?

Hardly an outlier. A November 2025 SWS survey showed Marcos’s trust sliding into negative territory (net -3%). PUBLiCUS Asia’s end-of-year polls paint an even starker picture, with presidential approval cratering to historic lows. Methodologies differ — question wording, timing, sampling — but the direction is unmistakable: a steady, cross-firm erosion of public faith. The consensus is clear — this is not survey noise; it is the sound of trust collapsing.

The Dynastic Circus

Beyond the data unfolds a spectacle worthy of dark satire: the complete implosion of the 2022 “UniTeam” alliance. What was sold as national unity has devolved into open dynastic warfare — impeachment proceedings against Duterte over confidential funds (later complicated by Supreme Court rulings), and her public remarks in late 2024 about arranging assassinations if harmed — targeting the President, First Lady, and Speaker.

This is not principled conflict. It is a mafia-style battle for the spoils of power, with ordinary citizens reduced to collateral damage.

Marcos campaigns on “Bagong Lipunan” renewal, yet his administration echoes the same grubby kickback culture of decades past. Duterte cultivates the image of a persecuted outsider from her Mindanao fortress — all while deeply embedded in the ruling system. The absurdity peaks in the spectacle of a sitting Vice President publicly claiming she needs protection from her own President.

At its root, this feud is not an anomaly. It is the inevitable product of a political system engineered for clan competition rather than public service — a dynastic duopoly where surnames trump platforms and loyalty is tribal rather than national.

The 2028 Horizon: Consequences and a Fork in the Road

If current trends hold, 2028 threatens to become a bitterly polarized showdown between two wounded dynastic camps — possibly complicated by disqualification bids, lingering probes, or even prison threats for losing sides.

Yet buried within these dismal numbers lies the survey’s most hopeful revelation: a trust vacuum. Filipinos’ top concerns are stubbornly technocratic — inflation, corruption, wages, jobs, poverty. They are not begging for more dynastic drama.

This creates a historic opening for a different kind of politics — one defined by competence, platforms, and integrity rather than bloodlines.

The path forward requires more than vague calls for “overhaul.” It demands concrete steps:

  • Empower independent institutions: Anti-corruption bodies with genuine autonomy, swift prosecutorial power, and protection from political interference.
  • Build a real party system: Where ideas and programs compete, not just clan banners.
  • Elevate leadership standards: Reward track records of performance and moral clarity, not nostalgia, warlord pedigree, or celebrity.
  • Reclaim active citizenship: A public that votes on results and principles, not tribal loyalty or charismatic spectacle.

In this great unraveling lies the seed of renewal. Filipinos have endured enough floods — both literal and metaphorical. We deserve dikes that actually protect, leaders who actually serve, and a democracy that finally places people above dynasties.

The choice is ours: cling to the circus, or build something better. The water is rising. It is time to act.

From the cave where truth still hides from political noise,

  • –Barok” C. Biraogo, serving satire with a side of righteous fury.

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Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

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