Trust levels of Filipinos in six key institutions — government, business, media, non-government organizations (NGOs), the church and the academe–have decline this year against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented society.
Results of the 2019 Philippine Trust Index conducted by the EON showed the most prominent decline in trust in an institution is with the NGOs, which experienced a sharp 22 percentage points decline from its 2017 percentile; from 59 percent to now only 37 percent who “trust” the institution.
Extreme trust for the church, government and businesses remain consistent.
The decline in trust to NGOs can be attributed to the very limited public awareness.
Among the 1,200 respondents, only 11 percent know of at least one specific NGO; 53 percent know of NGOs but cannot give a specific name; 35 percent do not know about NGOs at all.
The study said those without access to social media are less aware of NGOs with an astounding 44 percent not knowing of any organization, a difference of 13 percentage points compared to those that use social media.
“While Filipinos still turn to NGOs to help those in real need, the institution is under scrutiny for questionable agendas. Experiencing the largest decline in trust this year, NGOs score very low with incorruptibility (50 percent) and being free from political interest (53 percent),” the study added.
Extreme trust levels in the government remains the same with young Filipinos the least trusting of the government.
Despite the drop in trust levels in the six key institutions, Filipinos remain invested in their country with a total of 99 percent of respondents choosing to retain the Philippines as their country of permanent residence.