By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Filipinos’ trust levels have declined across six key institutions in society, but a large majority still remained invested in their country, the 2019 Philippine Trust Index (PTI) showed. Launched yesterday, the annual “PTI 2019: Who’s Capitalizing on Society’s New Currency?”, now on its sixth year and conducted by communications consultancy group EON, showed that non-governmental organizations registered the steepest decline of 22 percent to 37 from 59 percent in its 2017 trust ratings. Apart from a decline in trust levels, Filipinos’ performance ratings of the trust drivers across all institutions have also declined in 2019, compared to their 2017 performance. The other institutions include Government, the Business Sector, the Media, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the Church and the Academe. The trust rating for Government dropped to 76 from 80 in 2017 while the Media went down to 69 percent from 78 while Business was also down four points from 75 to 71 percent The church and the academe, which both traditionally garner the highest trust ratings also suffered a hit. Filipinos trust the Church lesser from 93 to 90 percent this year. Same level of disappointment was experienced by the Church. “Changes around us are becoming more turbulent and societies more fragmented, that trust now holds an even greater power across all institutions, said Junie del Mundo,” Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the EON Group. “In the Sixth Philippine Trust Index, we took a deep dive into Filipinos’ trust against the backdrop of these changes.” Despite the drop in trust levels in the six key institutions, the survey showed that 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. With these findings, EON said all institutions should work together and invest in the trust of Filipinos so they can keep calling their country home. “We hope that through the PTI, we can all get a glimpse of a snapshot of our people’s wealth of trust, and that we are all provoked to ask the right questions moving forward,” Del Mundo said. “This wealth of trust, like any wealth, must be managed, grown, and invested properly. After all, this is the only kind of wealth we can truly keep and bring with us after we pass on.” The PTI is EON’s multi-awarded propriety nationwide research that cuts across socioeconomic, educational, geographic and demographic backgrounds to discover just how much Filipinos trust the six key institutions in society. This encompasses the Government, the Business Sector, the Media, Non-Governmental Organizations, the Church and the Academe. For its sixth iteration, EON gathered responses from over 1,400 Filipinos across the nation, from March to April 2019.