Philippine businesses scored 72 out of 100 in the country’s first Business Trust Index, barely clearing the stability threshold, with real estate emerging as the least trusted of nine sectors surveyed.
The score places businesses under conditional trust, suggesting consumers remain willing to give companies the benefit of the doubt but can quickly withdraw their confidence when expectations are not met.
Malyn Molina, president and chief operating officer of the EON Group, said the findings show that businesses have earned public confidence only provisionally.
“Filipinos have given business the benefit of the doubt, but they are watching and they can easily take that trust back,” Molina said.
The Philippine Trust Study surveyed 800 respondents from May to August, establishing a baseline for measuring public confidence in businesses across industries. The 2026 study was developed by EON Group in partnership with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Institute of Philippine Culture of Ateneo de Manila University.
None of the nine sectors reached the robust trust category, which begins at 81 points.
Food and agriculture led with 75.6, followed by healthcare at 75.4 and commerce and retail at 75. These were the highest-scoring industries, although all remained below the threshold for robust trust.
Real estate posted the weakest score at 67.7, while tourism and business process outsourcing and information and communications technology both registered 68.6, placing them in the fragile trust category.
Molina attributed real estate’s poor showing partly to delayed property turnovers and marketing promises that fail to match actual delivery. In tourism, unexpected fees, cancellation charges, and higher peak-season prices have also undermined consumer confidence.
Pricing emerged as a broader source of distrust. Excessive prices were cited by 19.7 percent of respondents, followed by unclear prices or fees at 14.7 percent and hidden charges at 11.7 percent.
Honesty was the most important attribute in earning trust, cited by 34.6 percent of respondents, well ahead of product quality at 12.3 percent.
“Honesty gets you in the door. Quality keeps you in the room,” Molina said, urging companies to build confidence through consistent delivery, transparent pricing, and tangible care for customers.
The findings suggest that competitive products and services alone may not be enough. For businesses operating on conditional public confidence, keeping promises and avoiding unpleasant surprises could prove just as important as winning customers.
