Have congressmen finally made the turn image-wise from the flood control projects mess?

Such is the question as House Deputy Speaker Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun reflected on the results of the inaugural National Momentum Survey, which showed that 85.7 percent of respondents--nearly nine out of 10--rated their congressional representative as either “good” or “very good".

“The results indicate that district representatives are maintaining public trust by remaining visible, responsive and closely engaged with the needs of their constituents,” said Khonghun, a second-termer in the House of Representatives.

The House--which is one part of the bicameral Congress--is currently being led by

House Speaker Isabela 6th district Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Majority Leader Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos.

The flood control projects corruption scandal was famously exposed by President Marcos in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2025. The topic arguably dominated political discourse in both mainstream and social media, and lawmakers--whether fairly or unfairly--were on the receiving end of most of the public outrage.

The Chief Executive marked the first anniversary of his exposé during his penultimate SONA on July 27, 2026.

Speaker Dy--who took over as House leader in September 2025--has been very intentional in fixing the solons' public image through meaningful legislation and providing assistance at the district level.

Launched only last July 23, Momentum Research--the entity behind the survey--describes itself as a next-generation public opinion research firm that seeks to understand what Filipinos think, feel, and stand for.

In a press briefing, Momentum Research presented the findings of its National Momentum Survey (July 2026), led by political scientist and pollster Cleve Arguelles, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Momentum Research, together with statistician Ramoncito Cambel, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños Institute of Statistics and Co-Head of Statistics at Momentum Research.

He said 8.1 percent of rhe respondents described their representative’s performance as “poor", while 1.3 percent gave a “very poor” rating.

According to Khonghun, the “findings show that district lawmakers continue to earn strong public approval across regions and political affiliations as they deliver legislation, constituency services, and assistance directly to communities".

He said positive ratings were highest in the rest of Luzon at 87.3 percent, followed closely by the Visayas at 87 percent.

Mindanao recorded an 83.3 percent favorable rating, while Metro Manila posted 82.6 percent, Khonghun said based on the survey.

Khonghun said support was strongest among pro-Marcos respondents, 94.6 percent of whom rated their district representatives as “good” or “very good".

Khonghun said the figure included 20.4 percent who described their lawmakers’ performance as “very good” and 74.2 percent who rated them “good".

He said independent respondents also gave district representatives a strong 85.9 percent favorable rating, followed by pro-Duterte voters at 84.6 percent and pro-opposition respondents at 84.5 percent.

Pro-opposition respondents registered the highest disapproval rate at 12.8 percent, compared with 10.6 percent among pro-Duterte respondents, 8.7 percent among independents and only 4.6 percent among pro-Marcos voters, Khonghun noted.

The National Momentum Survey was conducted from July 13 to 16 among 1,438 respondents nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.