MANILA - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has just over six months left after nearly nine years in office, is distrusted by more than half of her people, a leading pollster said on Monday.

In the survey by Pulse Asia from Oct. 22-30, about 51 percent were critical of Arroyo's performance and 52 percent did not trust her, Ronald Holmes, head of the independent pollster, told Reuters.

"Every time an administration is about to exit, we expect a drop in their approval and trust ratings," Holmes said, adding that Arroyo's lack of popularity may hurt candidates she will endorse for next May's national and local elections.

About 48 million Filipinos are to elect a president, vice president, nearly 300 lawmakers at the two houses of Congress and more than 17,000 local government officials next year.

Arroyo is no longer eligible to run for a second term.

Arroyo's chosen successor, former defence secretary Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro, has registered poorly in opinion polls compared to two opposition senators - Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino and Manuel Villar. Even former president Joseph Estrada has better ratings than the administration standard-bearer.

Holmes said Arroyo's performance rating suffered in the survey of 1,800 respondents nationwide because it was done just a few weeks after the Philippines was battered by successive typhoons.

Arroyo's approval rating in October 2009 declined to 21 percent from 23 percent in August 2009 while her disapproval rating rose to 51 from 43 during the same period.

Her trust ratings showed a similar 2 percentage points decline, from 21 percent to 19 percent, while her distrust rating rose by 10 percentage points from 42 percent in August.

2009.

"The last time the president's disapproval and distrust ratings went above 50 percent level was in 2005, right after she was linked to allegations of election fraud in the 2004 polls," Holmes said. It slightly improved but is starting to fall off again.

Arroyo's spokesman, Gary Olivar, shrugged off her poor ratings, saying she should be measured based on her work ethic and accomplishments.

"These surveys are opinion-based and we don't think it represents a significant number of Filipinos," Olivar told reporters. "The president has been focused on just delivering basic social services for the poorest of the poor. That's more important for the president than her popularity."