More than half of Filipinos said they believe there is nothing they can do to combat government corruption.

The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on personal efficacy against corruption found that 52 percent of Filipinos agreed that citizens’ protests have no weight in stopping public officials from abusing their positions. Thirty percent of respondents disagreed, believing they can do something about the corruption, while 17 percent were undecided.

SWS classified the June 2026 results as moderately weak, noting they were no different from the agency’s earlier findings.

The pollster said the current year findings were the worst compared to similar surveys conducted in 2006, 2008, 2009, and December 2025.

“With net disagreement twice as negative as in any earlier reading, 2026 continues to be the worst year for personal efficacy against corruption in the whole series,” SWS said.

The statement used to assess survey participants’ insight was: “A person like me cannot do anything to reduce corruption in the government.”

SWS noted that it differed from the statement used in previous tests: “It is just too difficult for someone like me to fight corruption in government,” which respondents answered a total of nine times from 2002 to 2012.

Notably, the latter phrase drew a lower net score of -46, which the agency classified as very weak, meaning that more Filipinos used to believe that they could do something about corruption.

Higher disbelief in Visayas

When splitting the results by region, SWS said the Visayas logged the highest net disagreement at -10, while people from Mindanao and Luzon had scores of -21 and -23, respectively.

The pollster, however, noted that the results dropped from its previous neutral finding (0) in March.

Metro Manila, meanwhile, continued to log the highest mark for disagreement, with a score of -37, meaning more respondents in the capital region believe that they can be instruments in the anti-corruption battle.

Another factor the survey examined was the participants’ educational attainment, finding that the least educated individuals expressed the least confidence in their personal efficacy.