64% say district reps ‘doing a good job’ – OCTA

MANILA, Philippines — About six in every 10 Filipinos believe that their district representatives are doing a good job, indicating what the OCTA Research group described as a stark difference between views at the local and institutional levels.

In its July 4 to 11 survey, OCTA found 64 percent of the respondents agreed their current district representatives were doing a good job. Only 27 percent disagreed, while nine percent were undecided.

This is far higher than the 38 percent trust and 37 percent performance rating obtained by the House of Representatives as an institution.

“The finding that local representative satisfaction substantially exceeds institutional trust and institutional performance ratings suggests that accountability in Philippine politics may operate more effectively, or at least more visibly, at the constituency level than at the level of the institution itself,” OCTA said.

“This has implications beyond public opinion measurement: it bears on how legislators themselves may calculate political incentives, since a representative’s standing with constituents appears largely decoupled from the public’s broader assessment of Congress,” it added.

The survey firm said it may also offer partial explanation for a familiar pattern in Philippine electoral behavior showing high incumbent reelection rates despite low institutional trust in Congress as a whole.

OCTA pointed out how regional variation in satisfaction with district representation “is not a uniform national mood, but a locally contingent one.”