Palace happy over Binay’s higher trust rating

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang appears unfazed by Vice President Jejomar Binay’s public trust ratings that are higher than those of President Aquino’s.

Edwin Lacierda, President Aquino’s spokesman, said the Vice President of past administrations historically had a higher trust rating than the President because the criticisms were always directed toward the Chief Executive.

“You go through the surveys even of the past administrations. The reason being any criticism, any displeasure is always directed towards the Chief Executive,” Lacierda said in Thursday’s news briefing in Malacañang.

According to Lacierda, the Aquino administration is “very happy with the numbers of the Vice President.”

“The President has continued to maintain his popularity and trust ratings in spite of the situation. So it means that the people continue to trust the President and that’s important for us because so far majority of the people believe in the President,” Lacierda said.

Asked whether the militants’ “noynoying” protest would mar the President’s satisfaction rating, Lacierda answered in the negative.

“Again, our response to that is that our economic indicators can prove them wrong,” Lacierda said.

“We just enrolled the three million beneficiaries so we are on track with our social service program. We continue to ensure that our programs towards poverty alleviation are pushed forward,” he added.