Binay, Aquino, Enrile get top marks—survey

President Benigno Aquino III, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Chief Justice Renato Corona

The proceedings of the impeachment court have apparently lifted the approval and trust ratings of its presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, but drastically pulled down those of the one on trial, Chief Justice Renato Corona, results of a recent survey by Pulse Asia Inc. showed.

The impeachment trial of Corona appeared to have also adversely affected public approval of and trust in the Supreme Court.

The ratings of President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay remained high, while that of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. went down, according to the survey results released Thursday.

Malacañang said Mr. Aquino’s high trust and satisfaction ratings showed that the public was feeling the effects of the administration’s programs against poverty and corruption.

“As we have always maintained, public office is a public trust. There is no greater proof that the public is feeling the effects of our reforms than the President’s sustained trust and satisfaction ratings,” the President’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a news briefing.

“We take these results as reinforcement to push for economic and institutional reforms to achieve inclusive, equitable growth,” Lacierda added.

Binay said he was pleased by his high trust ratings and thanked the people for their support.

The Vice President said “again, I would like to thank President Aquino for his trust and the people for their support.”

“We face many challenges ahead but President Aquino and myself are determined to exert all our energies to overcome these challenges,” he said in a statement.

Last month, Binay said he would be running for the presidency in 2016 when Mr. Aquino’s six-year term ends. He said it would be “hypocritical” of him to deny his plans to run for the country’s highest post.

Dreaming to be president

“I dream of becoming the President… I cannot deny that,” he told reporters.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV observed that Binay had high visibility since he was elected Vice President in 2010.

“He’s really going around. I don’t know if this is a factor for his high approval rating,” Trillanes said in an interview.

He said he had apprehensions about the tendency of people to compare Mr. Aquino’s approval and trust ratings with that of Binay’s.

“The slight dip in the President’s ratings can be attributed to the hard decisions that he is making that in a way affect the lives of the people. On the other hand, the Vice President is not making those decisions. So, he’s not offending anyone,” the senator said.

Enrile soars

The survey was conducted nationwide from February 26 to March 9 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adult Filipinos.

Enrile scored an approval rating of 71 percent, an 11-percentage-point increase from his rating in November last year.

By contrast, the approval rating of Corona, charged with culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, plunged 24 percentage points to just 14 percent.

Enrile received his biggest approval rating (82 percent) in Metro Manila. It was followed by 72 percent in the rest of Luzon, 69 percent in the Visayas and 66 percent in Mindanao.

Among socioeconomic groups, the Senate President received the biggest approval rating (73 percent) from Class E. It was 71 percent among Class D and 65 percent among Class ABC.

Like ice cream

Enrile was “happy” about the results of the survey, but compared the approval and trust ratings of government officials to “ice cream.”

“You know, popularity is like ice cream which is sometimes hard, sometimes soft, and then another time melting. But it should not be melting because it means you’re a bad person, or you have rendered a bad service,” Enrile said in an ambush interview at the Senate.

He said “the ice cream sometimes melts because you’re doing what you thought you should do. But the people don’t understand it because nobody in this world (could claim) not to have offended anyone.”

“And if you make a decision, particularly if you are the President or you’re in power, many will get hurt by decisions you made for the country because there is no concurrence of interest in this world,” Enrile said.

Rating unchanged

Mr. Aquino scored an approval rating of 70 percent (from 72 percent last November), while Binay got 84 percent (from 83 percent)—unchanged considering the survey’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

Belmonte’s approval rating dropped to 41 percent from 45 percent.

Most respondents across geographic areas approved of the performance of Mr. Aquino—68 percent in Mindanao, 68 percent in Metro Manila, 69 percent in the rest of Luzon and 76 percent in the Visayas.

The majority of respondents across all areas also approved of Binay’s performance—86 percent in Mindanao, 85 percent in Metro Manila, 85 percent in the rest of Luzon and 78 percent in the Visayas.

Fifty-four percent in Metro Manila, 43 percent in the rest of Luzon, 37 percent in the Visayas and 34 percent in Mindanao approved of Belmonte’s performance.

Across socioeconomic classes, majorities also expressed approval for Mr. Aquino (72 percent among Class E, 71 percent among Class D and 52 percent among Class ABC).

Among Class D, 86 percent approved of Binay. It was 82 percent among Class E and 72 percent among Class ABC.

Forty-four percent of Class D, 38 percent of Class ABC and 37 percent of Class E expressed approval of Belmonte’s performance.

Highest trust rating

Among the top national officials, Binay obtained the highest trust rating of 80 percent (from 83 percent in November).

The President posted an overall trust rating of 69 percent (from 74 percent), while Enrile scored a trust rating of 63 percent (from 59 percent). Belmonte got a 32-percent trust rating (from 41 percent).

Across areas and socioeconomic classes, most respondents expressed trust for Mr. Aquino (67 percent to 73 percent, and 60 percent to 72 percent, respectively), Binay (78 percent to 85 percent, and 78 percent to 80 percent), and  Enrile (58 percent to 76 percent, and 60 percent to 64 percent).

Supreme Court rating slips

Public trust in the Supreme Court slipped to 37 percent in March from 53 percent last November, as the proportion of those who said they distrusted the Supreme Court increased to 21 percent from 15 percent in November.

“Across geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, the Supreme Court’s trust ratings declined in the rest of Luzon and Mindanao, and in every socioeconomic grouping,” Pulse Asia said in a statement.

Half of the respondents expressed trust in the Senate and 41 percent in the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court’s approval rating of 41 percent was also lower than the Senate’s 50 percent, but practically the same as that of the House’s 43 percent considering the margin of error. Reports from  Norman Bordadora, Jerry E. Esplanada, Michael Lim  Ubac and Kate Pedroso of Inquirer Research