Aquino’s fight vs graft earns plaudits

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Aquino administration scored majority approval ratings in three of 11 national issues in a Pulse Asia survey in May.

Majority of Filipinos approve of the administration’s efforts to fight corruption in government (58 percent), fight criminality (56 percent) and enforce the law equally on all citizens (52 percent), according to the survey conducted from May 20 to 26 and released Monday.

But the administration scored a “big plurality disapproval rating” of 40 percent on the issue of inflation, which was the only issue deemed by the majority (54 percent) to be urgent.

The administration also scored “plurality approval scores” for promoting peace (50 percent) and increasing the pay of workers (42 percent).

“Meanwhile, indecision is the plurality sentiment with regard to the Aquino administration’s efforts to control the population (43 percent),” Pulse Asia said.

Pulse Asia also noted “basically the same approval and indecision ratings” on three issues—strengthening the people’s trust in the government and its officials (40 percent approve, 43 percent undecided); creating more jobs (41 percent approve, 37 percent undecided), and protecting the environment (41 percent approve, 36 percent undecided).

“Public opinion is split on the administration’s antipoverty initiatives with 36 percent ambivalent about the matter, 35 percent expressing outright disapproval and 29 percent having a positive opinion,” Pulse Asia said.

Compared to last March, there have been only “slight changes” in the administration’s performance ratings—approval ratings concerning the administration’s efforts to enforce the law dipped by five percentage points (from 57 percent to 52 percent), as did its ratings concerning its efforts at protecting the environment (from 46 percent to 41 percent).

Disapproval ratings regarding the government’s antipoverty initiatives also increased by five percentage points (from 30 percent to 35 percent). Kate Pedroso, Inquirer Research