Naga City Mayor Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo has registered the strongest governance score among city chief executives in the Bicol Region, according to a new assessment released by the RPMD Foundation Inc., which placed her ahead of six other mayors and credited her administration with the highest combined trust and performance marks in the survey.
The former vice president, who was elected Naga’s first female mayor in 2025 and assumed office in June that year, posted an 87.8 percent Index of Governance score. RPMD said the figure was built from an 87.5 percent trust rating and an 88.1 percent performance rating, the highest of any city leader measured in the region.
RPMD’s Index of Governance, the metric at the center of the assessment, blends two components: a trust rating covering perceived credibility, integrity, accessibility and reliability, and a performance rating covering service delivery, project implementation, fiscal management and administrative effectiveness. The foundation describes the index as distinct from preference or electoral polling, framing it instead as a gauge of how residents judge governance already being delivered rather than how they intend to vote.
Behind Robredo, Legazpi City Mayor Hisham Ismail placed second with an 83.9 percent index score, drawn from 83.2 percent trust and 84.6 percent performance ratings. Sorsogon City Mayor Ester Hamor followed in third at 81.0 percent, generated from 80.7 percent trust and 81.3 percent performance.
The remaining cities also landed in what RPMD calls the Top Governance Tier — the bracket reserved for officials scoring above 70 percent. Iriga City Mayor Rex Oliva took fourth at 78.7 percent (78.4 percent trust, 79.1 percent performance), ahead of Tabaco City Mayor Rey Bragais in fifth at 77.0 percent (76.9 percent trust, 77.2 percent performance). Masbate City Mayor Ara Kho ranked sixth with 73.1 percent (72.8 percent trust, 73.5 percent performance), while Ligao City Mayor Fernando Gonzalez completed the list at seventh with 70.5 percent (70.3 percent trust, 70.7 percent performance).
By the foundation’s own scoring scale, the spread is notable: RPMD treats 55 percent as the minimum passing benchmark, 60 percent and above as strong performance, and 70 percent and above as a marker of very strong public approval. On that scale, none of the seven Bicol city mayors fell below the strongest classification.
Dr. Paul Martinez, executive director of RPMD Foundation Inc. and the group’s global affairs and political analyst, tied the results to what he characterized as a changing basis for public trust in the region. He said Bicolano voters are increasingly weighing service delivery, accountability, responsiveness and concrete results over political affiliation or personality when judging their leaders.
According to the foundation, the assessment is independent and non-commissioned, forming part of its nationwide “Boses ng Bayan” program. RPMD said the Bicol round was carried out from April 1 to 8, 2026, drawing on interviews with 5,000 randomly selected respondents spread across the region’s six provinces and all socio-economic brackets. The foundation reported a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point at a 95 percent confidence level.
RPMD stressed that the exercise is not built to forecast elections. It is meant, the group said, to give officials an independent reading of constituent sentiment — a way to identify where governance is landing well and where expectations are not being met. The foundation positions lower scores not as condemnation but as a prompt for officials to recalibrate, framing the broader purpose as encouraging accountability and citizen-centered governance rather than rewarding or punishing individual leaders.
The mayors were assessed across a wide governance framework that RPMD said included peace and order, healthcare, education support, infrastructure, environmental management, traffic and mobility, disaster preparedness, economic development, employment, digital governance, fiscal responsibility and transparency. Respondents were also asked whether their city governments were using public resources responsibly and producing tangible benefits for residents.
The foundation acknowledged that governance assessments do not predict who wins at the polls, but argued that strong governance records tend to translate into durable political standing over time. Public confidence and demonstrated performance, RPMD said, remain among the most reliable foundations of a leader’s credibility.
Editor’s note: The figures cited are as reported by RPMD Foundation Inc. The Global Filipino Magazine could not independently verify the Bicol Region city-level results, which to date have not appeared in other media coverage. RPMD is not affiliated with the Social Weather Stations or Pulse Asia, and its methodology has not been independently audited.
