By Alexandria Dennise San Juan

The United States of America remained as the most trusted country for majority of Filipinos at 84 percent while Russia and China were the least, the latest Pulse Asia Research survey showed.

In the “Ulat ng Bayan” survey conducted by the Pulse Asia from December 14 to 21 last year, most Filipinos or at least 84 percent said that the Philippines should give a great deal or fair amount of trust to the United States (29 percent a great deal of trust, 54 percent a fair amount of trust).

The latest trust ratings of the US is a five-point increase from its trust scores at 79 percent (29 percent a great deal of trust, 50 percent a fair amount of trust) in March 2017.

While only 16 percent of Filipinos said they do not trust the US (13 percent not too much trust, 2 percent no trust at all, 1 percent don’t know or refused), four points lower than the 20 percent (16 percent not too much trust, 4 percent no trust at all, 0.4 percent don’t know or refused) in March 2017.

The December 2018 survey also found out that the second most trusted country for Filipinos is Japan at 75 percent, followed by Australia at 72 percent, and the United Kingdom at 57 percent.

Japan’s trust ratings were unchanged at 75 percent in March 2017, while scores of Australia and the UK increased by three and four points from 69 percent and from 53 percent, respectively, in the 2017 survey.

Meanwhile, the latest survey also noted a continued distrust of Filipinos to China at 60 percent (40 percent not too much trust, 20 percent no trust at all, 1 percent don’t know or refused) while only 39 percent said they do (6 percent a great deal of trust, 33 percent a fair amount of trust).

In the 2017 survey, China also scored the lowest trust scores at 37 percent (5 percent a great deal of trust, 31 percent a fair amount of trust), and high distrust ratings at 63 percent (35 percent not too much trust, 28 percent no trust at all, 0.4 percent don’t know or refused)

Russia, the second least trusted country, received only 39 percent trust scores (6 percent a great deal of trust, 33 percent a fair amount of trust) against 54 percent who said they do not trust them (38 percent not too much trust, 15 percent no trust at all, 2 percent don’t know or refused).

Aside from the US, Japan, Australia and UK, most Filipinos also trusted regional organizations Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), at 82 percent and 80 percent, respectively.

The nationwide Pulse Asia survey were conducted among 1,800 adults and has a +2.3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95 percent confidence level: ± 6.5 percent for Metro Manila, ± 3.5 percent for the rest of Luzon, ± 5.2 percent for Visayas and ± 4.7 percent for Mindanao.