FILIPINOS are more satisfied with their own congressmen than with the House of Representatives as an institution, an OCTA Research survey released Monday showed.
The survey, taken on July 4 to 11, showed that 64 percent of adult Filipinos agreed that their district representatives were doing a good job representing them in the House, compared with 27 percent who disagreed and 9 percent who were undecided.
The rating was significantly higher than the 37 percent who gave the House a positive performance rating and the 38 percent who expressed trust in the chamber as an institution.
OCTA said the findings showed a distinction between how Filipinos assessed their own elected representatives and how they viewed Congress as a whole.
OCTA cautioned, however, that the figures measured different questions and should not be treated as directly interchangeable.
Satisfaction with district representatives was highest in Visayas, where 68 percent of respondents said their lawmakers were doing a good job.
It was followed by Mindanao at 65 percent, Balance Luzon at 63 percent and the National Capital Region at 60 percent.
All regions surveyed recorded majority satisfaction, although the results varied significantly.
The Negros Island Region posted the highest satisfaction at 82 percent, followed by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) (75 percent), and the Ilocos Region (71 percent).
The Bicol Region recorded 70 percent satisfaction, followed by the Davao Region (69 percent), Central Visayas (68 percent), Soccsksargen (68 percent), and Cagayan Valley and Mimaropa regions (64 percent each).
Central Luzon and Zamboanga Peninsula posted 64 percent satisfaction each, while Eastern Visayas recorded 65 percent.
Satisfaction was lowest in Caraga at 55 percent, followed by Calabarzon (57 percent), and Northern Mindanao (58 percent).
The Cordillera Administrative Region recorded 60 percent, while Western Visayas posted 61 percent.
OCTA said the regional differences indicated that satisfaction with district representation was not uniform across the country.
It said the survey was not designed to determine the reasons behind the variations, which could be influenced by local political conditions and the visibility of constituency work.
Respondents from the lowest socioeconomic class recorded the highest satisfaction with their district representatives.
Class E respondents delivered a 72-percent approval rating, compared with 63 percent among Class D and 62 percent among Class ABC.
OCTA said the pattern ran counter to the assumption that political satisfaction tracked income or urbanization.
Satisfaction was nearly similar between rural and urban respondents, at 65 percent and 63 percent, respectively.
Both male and female respondents recorded a 64-percent approval rating.
By age, satisfaction was highest among respondents aged 65 to 74 at 72 percent, followed by those aged 18 to 24 at 66 percent and those aged 35 to 44 at 65 percent.
The lowest approval ratings, 60 percent each, were recorded among respondents aged 25 to 34 and those aged 75 and above.
The survey polled 1,200 respondents aged 18 and above using face-to-face interviews.
It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a 95-percent confidence level.
OCTA said the findings emphasized the importance of distinguishing between public opinion on individual lawmakers and the House as an institution, rather than relying on institutional trust figures alone as a measure of how citizens viewed their own representation.
