‘Weak’ Cabinet men dragging Aquino’s approval ratings down—bishop

MANILA, Philippines—A weak Cabinet and the perceived patronage system in the administration of President Benigno Aquino III might be among the key reasons why his public approval rating in a private survey dropped once more, a Catholic bishop said on Wednesday.

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo urged the President to stringently evaluate members of his Cabinet and replace those performing poorly with capable ones.

“There are many Cabinet members and officials in various departments who are not doing good in their public service… this is one of the factors why the President’s satisfaction rating is not good,” Bagaforo said over Church-run Radio Veritas.

The prelate also said the President must not protect friends in the government service found to have erred.

According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the President’s net satisfaction rating slid further to plus-46 this month from plus-51 in March and plus-64 in November 2010.

But Aquino on Tuesday shrugged off his latest score, saying that he was not concerned with popularity but with his work.

“I think there is truth to the allegation that the President doesn’t hold big and extensive meetings with his Cabinet [so] there’s no coordination among the different departments in the government and the heads have their own strategy in managing their offices,” said Bagaforo.

The prelate added that the continuing slump in the President’s rating can also be attributed to his alleged KKK (kakampi, kaklase and kabarilan, or allies, classmates and shooting buddies) and to his administration’s unfulfilled promises to the people.

“The latest rating simply indicates that in the eyes of the people, he has many promises that he has not fulfilled…this is also a wakeup call for the administration that the nation is really counting on the government to have a direction,” the prelate pointed out.

Keeping friends, classmates and shooting buddies in the government even if they were not really performing well was also “a reflection” of poor government management on the part of the President, Bagaforo said.

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo reminded Aquino to pray amid his dipping net satisfaction rating.

He said the President needed to pray more so he could truly lead the country to the straight path (“tuwid na daan”) and deliver a genuine public service to the Filipinos.

The former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines also urged Filipinos to pray for Aquino. “Let’s pray for him, that he will be able to realize all the things that are good for the country,” Lagdameo said, also on Radio Veritas.