71% trust Aquino, says Pulse Asia

About seven in 10 (71 percent) Filipinos trust President Benigno Aquino III and approve of his performance as head of state, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

They also believe that the Aquino administration has been successful in fighting criminality, with 60 percent of the respondents expressing approval, but are largely unsatisfied with its efforts to control inflation, with only 39 percent expressing approval.

The Pulse Asia survey results were released on the heels of those of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which found 64 percent satisfied with Mr. Aquino’s performance.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes said the two nationwide surveys could not be compared because they were conducted in different time periods and the questions asked were phrased differently.

The SWS survey was conducted on June 3-6. Pulse Asia conducted its survey from May 21 to June 4 on a sample of 1,200 representative adults, using face-to-face interviews. The results have an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Steep drop in Visayas

In the Pulse Asia survey, 7 percent expressed small to no trust in the President and 22 were undecided; 8 percent disapproved of his performance and 21 percent were ambivalent on the matter.

The only significant change between March and May was the steep drop in the President’s ratings in the Visayas: His performance rating fell from 83 percent in March to 68 percent in May, and his trust rating, from 84 percent in March to 70 percent in May.

“For the most part, these figures do not vary significantly from the presidential ratings recorded by Pulse Asia in March 2011,” the poll firm said.

The President posted a 75-percent approval rating and a 74-percent performance rating in March.

Compared to October 2010, his approval rating declined by 8 points (from 79 percent in October to 71 percent in May), while his national trust rating decreased by 9 points (from 80 percent in October to 71 percent in May).

Decline marginal

According to Holmes, a decline in ratings is “normal,” as the poll firm has observed the same trend in past administrations.

“Sometimes the decline is significant, but in the case of President Aquino, decline is constant but is marginal, or within the margin of error,” Holmes said.

He said the declining approval numbers could be attributed to respondents who might be “withholding their judgment” of Mr. Aquino.

The Pulse Asia survey showed the President enjoying majority approval ratings across geographic areas ranging from 57 percent in Metro Manila to 79 percent in Mindanao.

Across socioeconomic groupings, approval levels varied from 63 percent among Classes ABC to 77 percent of the poorest Class E.

With respect to disapproval ratings, double-digit figures were obtained among Classes ABC (14 percent) and Metro Manila (15 percent); single-digit ratings were posted in the other geographic areas (6 percent to 7 percent) and socioeconomic classes (5 percent to 8 percent).

Levels of public ambivalence regarding Mr. Aquino’s work performance were nearly constant across geographic areas (15 percent to 28 percent) and socioeconomic groupings (18 percent to 23 percent).

Also nearly constant were levels of public ambivalence toward trusting Mr. Aquino (geographic areas, 17 to 29 percent; socioeconomic groupings, 17 to 25 percent).

11 issues

Most of the respondents said they believed that the administration had done well on 6 of 11 issues—fighting criminality (60 percent), enforcing the law equally (57 percent), improving the national peace situation (57 percent), fighting corruption in government (56 percent), creating more jobs (53 percent) and increasing workers’ pay (51 percent).

The respondents said they considered these three issues as the most urgent: improving/increasing workers’ pay (chosen by 54 percent), controlling inflation (chosen by 53 percent) and fighting graft and corruption (chosen by 40 percent).

Majorities said they believed the administration did well with improving and increasing workers’ pay (51 percent approval rating) and fighting graft and corruption (56 percent approval), but only 39 percent expressed approval for the administration’s performance on inflation.

The administration posted plurality approval ratings on three other issues—protecting the environment (50 percent), strengthening public trust in the government and its officials (49 percent) and controlling population growth (48 percent).

On the issue of poverty reduction, practically the same percentages approved of the administration’s work (40 percent) or were ambivalent (39 percent).

Public disapproval was most pronounced on the issue of controlling inflation (29 percent).

During the period March-May, the only significant change in the administration’s performance ratings were on the issue of equal law enforcement: up by 8 percentage points, from 49 percent in March to 57 percent in May.

Improvement expected

Malacañang expects the President’s performance rating to pick up as infrastructure projects are rolled out and posts crucial to his campaign against graft and corruption are filled.

“The next survey will be done three months from now. We hope to improve. We will have infrastructure spending,” Edwin Lacierda, Mr. Aquino’s spokesperson, said at Wednesday’s news briefing.

Lacierda mentioned as an example the construction of a four-lane underpass at the intersection of Araneta and Quezon Avenues in Quezon City.

He said that by July, the first infrastructure project under the private-public partnerships program would have been bid out.

Lacierda also said the two-millionth beneficiary of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program would be registered this month.

“We have a CCT target of 2.3 million households, and next year our target is three million,” he said, adding:

“We believe that the CCT program is moving, infrastructure spending is moving, and we will be appointing the new Ombudsman and two Supreme Court justices.

“I think that will show our efforts toward poverty reduction and curbing graft and corruption.”

Clearing land mines first

Lacierda said that in 2010 when the Aquino administration came in, it had to clear its path of “land mines,” or irregularities in various departments and bureaus.

“We had to fix a lot of things. One example here is infrastructure spending, which many [said was] taking too long. And the reason it took us some time was we have to plug the leakages,” Lacierda said.

“Now, it’s a bit fixed. In fact, with [Public Works] Secretary Rogelio Singson, we were able to save at least 20-30 percent in the contract price, and we have savings of around P7 billion,” he said.

Nonetheless, Lacierda said, Mr. Aquino’s performance rating remained “at near historical highs” despite the decrease of 3 percentage points from March to June, according to the Pulse Asia survey.

He said the latest survey results showed “wide-ranging support for the administration’s efforts to curb corruption, pursue inclusive growth and provide basic services to the people.”

He added that the support was continuing despite attempts by “the enemies of reform to stoke the fires of negativism.”

Friends in gov’t

Opposition lawmakers have cited Mr. Aquino’s inaction on the purported irregularities committed by his friends in the government as one of the reasons for the ratings slide.

Even a Catholic bishop, Jose Colin Bagaforo of Cotabato, said a weak Cabinet and the perceived patronage system in the administration were among the causes of the President’s dropping ratings.

Bagaforo called on Mr. Aquino to evaluate members of his Cabinet and replace the poor performers 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,” he said over Church-run Radyo Veritas.

He added: “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 … and the heads have their own strategy in managing their offices.”

Bagaforo said the continuous decline in the President’s ratings could also be attributed to his “KKK” (classmates, party mates and shooting buddies) and his administration’s unfulfilled promises. With reports from Norman Bordadora and Jocelyn R. Uy