Binay is most trusted, survey says
Vice President Jejomar Binay has the highest trust rating among the top officials in government, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.
Eight in ten Filipinos trust Binay and approve of his performance in office, the survey conducted from May 21 to June 4 showed.
Binay got an 81-percent overall trust rating and overall approval rating of 83 percent. President Aquino got 71 percent in both trust and approval ratings.
Binay’s numbers were unchanged from the previous survey in March.
Mr. Aquino’s trust and approval ratings were down, although not statistically significant, from 75 and 74, respectively, in March.
The nationwide survey, released Monday, was based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults and had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Other officials included in the survey were Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, with a 49-percent trust rating and 57-percent approval rating;
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. with a 33-percent trust rating and a 39-percent approval rating; and
Chief Justice Renato Corona with a 23-percent trust rating and a 28-percent approval rating.
The majority across geographic areas expressed trust in President Aquino (56 percent to 76 percent) and Binay (74 percent to 84 percent).
The top two officials also enjoyed good trust ratings in all socioeconomic classes (63 percent to 78 percent for the President and 74 percent to 83 percent for the Vice President).
The other top government officials’ national ratings remained unchanged, but Pulse Asia noted significant changes since March across geographic and socioeconomic groupings.
Levels of public trust in the President and Belmonte declined in Metro Manila, both by 13 percentage points.
Down in the Visayas
President Aquino also experienced a drop of 14 points in his trust rating among Visayans.
Belmonte’s trust rating among members of the poorest Class E decreased by 12 percentage points while public ambivalence toward Enrile’s trustworthiness jumped by 13 percentage points between March and May in Mindanao.
In terms of performance, President Aquino and Binay scored majority approval ratings in all geographic areas (57 percent to 79 percent and 72 percent to 89 percent, respectively) and socioeconomic classes (63 percent to 77 percent and 81 percent to 84 percent, respectively).
Public approval for the work done by the President also dropped in the Visayas between March and May by 15 percentage points.
The only significant change in the performance ratings of the five government officials was the 11-percentage point decline in the national approval rating of Belmonte between March and May, Pulse Asia said.
Interviewed at the Clark Freeport where he met with housing officials, Binay said he owed his high approval and trust ratings to President Aquino due to the assignments the latter has been giving him.
“My performance stems from the wisdom and trust of President Aquino when he asked me to join his administration,” Binay told the Inquirer.
Binay was made head of the government housing program and is also presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers.
He said there was no point in comparing him with the President. “Hindi naman (That’s not) apple to apple yan. He’s president, I’m vice president,” he said.
He dodged questions about his reported presidential bid in 2016 by saying that there was a lot of work to do in the next five years. Inquirer Research and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon
