Filipinos give new president, Rodrigo Duterte, high marks after first 90 days

MANILA, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Three-quarters of Filipinos say they approve of the job President Rodrigo Duterte has done in his first 90 days in office, according to a new poll.

The poll, by the non-profit organization Social Weather Stations, based in Manila, Philippines, surveyed 1,200 adults between Sept. 24 and 27. Duterte received the approval of 76 percent of respondents. Only 11 percent said they were dissatisfied, with 13 percent undecided.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Since his June inauguration, the controversial Duterte, 71, declared a war on drugs which has seen at least 3,600 deaths, 22,000 arrests and over 731 voluntary surrenders to police. Duterte has criticized the U.S. military presence in the Philippines and delivered expletive-laden tirades against perceived enemies who question his actions, including U.S. President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon.

Duterte has not yet acted on the Philippines' economic issues except to target the mining industry, ordering it to comply with environmental regulations or face shutdowns of mines. The Philippines is the world's largest provider of nickel ore, crucial to China's production of stainless steel.

"He is like a stereo. On one channel, he is shock and awe, a lot of pronouncements, a lot of revelations," Segundo Romero of Ateneo de Manila University commented to Bloomberg News. "When you look at the actual management in government work, which is planning what to do, making decisions and making things happen, that has really not moved so much."