Binay, Enrile, Belmonte score record highs in latest SWS survey

MANILA, Philippines—Top government officials have received record increases in their satisfaction ratings, according to the results of the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) Survey released Friday.

Results showed that Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte received their highest satisfaction ratings since they took office.

Binay scored an “excellent” rating of +76 (82 percent satisfied, 6 percent dissatisfied), a six-point jump from his previous +70 (79 percent satisfied, 9 percent dissatisfied).

Binay’s score also beat his previous personal best of +74 in March 2011.

Enrile’s rating, meanwhile, jumped 17 points to a record-high “very good” +65 (73% satisfied, 8% dissatisfied) from +48 in the previous quarter. Enrile’s score topped then Senate President Manuel Villar’s +59 rating in December 2007.

Belmonte also hit his record personal best:  a rating of “moderate” +20 (40% satisfied, 20% dissatisfied) from May’s “neutral” +8 (36% satisfied, 28% dissatisfied).

In a statement Friday, Binay described his consistent “excellent” score and the high satisfaction ratings of President Benigno Aquino III and other government leaders as “manifestations” of public support for the administration’s reform agenda.

Last week, the SWS also revealed in its new report that Aquino’s net satisfaction score went up 25 points to a “very good” +67 in the August poll from the “good” +42 in May.

“I am also grateful to President Aquino for his continued trust in me and for including me in his Cabinet,” Binay said.

Binay serves as the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), presidential adviser for OFW Concerns, chair of the Presidential Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (PTFAIR) and chair emeritus of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

Antonio Carpio, who served as acting chief justice before Aquino appointed Lourdes Sereno last month, scored a “neutral” +3, a significant improvement from the record low of -44, hit in May by impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.

The Third Quarter 2012 Survey, which consisted of the satisfaction ratings for the Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and top government institutions, was conducted from August 24-27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults all over the country, with sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent for area percentages.

The SWS considers scores of +70 and above as “excellent”; +50 to +69, “very good’; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”; -9 to +9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; and -70 and below, “execrable”.

The same SWS survey also revealed its ratings for the Senate, House of Representatives and Cabinet.

The Senate scored a “very good” +67 (74% satisfied, 7% dissatisfied) from a “good” +49 last quarter. It topped the previous “very good” record high of +58 in March 2012.

The House of representatives, meanwhile, received a “good” rating of +42 (55% satisfied, 14% dissatisfied) up 12 points from +30 in May.

The Cabinet received a rating of “good” +33 (50% satisfied, 17% dissatisfied) from a “moderate” +19 in May.

The Supreme Court, which scored a net +13 (“moderate”) in May, received an improved rating of a “good” +35 (52% satisfied, 17% dissatisfied).