‘Aquino, Binay continue to enjoy high trust ratings’—Pulse Asia

President Benigno Aquino III and Vice-President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Majority of Filipinos continue to trust and approve the performance of President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay, the latest Pulse Asia survey said on Wednesday.

The President registered approval and trust ratings of 68 percent and 70 percent, respectively while the Vice President obtained approval and trust scores of 69 percent and 72 percent.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile scored an approval rating of 46 percent and a trust rating of 43 percent.

The survey was conducted from February 24 to 28 with 1,800 registered voters, 18 years old and above, with error margins at 95 percent confidence level: ± 7 percent for Metro Manila, ±3 percent for the rest of Luzon and ±5 percent for each of Visayas and Mindanao.

No significant changes

Pulse Asia said the latest results of the survey showed no significant changes in the trust and approval ratings of the top government officials between January and February 2013.

It said that the performance and trustworthiness of the top government officials remained “basically unchanged between January and February 2013” not only in the national level but across geographic areas and socio-economic classes.

The only exception was Speaker Feliciano Belmonte who showed a 21 percent decline in his trust rating in Mindanao.

Belmonte, Sereno score lowest in approval and trust

Two officials who earned the lowest approval and trust scores were Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. [26 to27 percent] and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno [22 to 23 percent].

Pulse Asia said Filipinos were undecided when it came to the performance and trustworthiness of Belmonte [48 to 49 percent] and Sereno [46 percent].

Aquino and Binay had the lowest indecision figures for performance and trust in the latest survey, with the President obtaining 24 percent while the Vice President scored 22 to 24 percent.

Filipinos were most critical of the performances of Enrile [16 percent], Sereno [17 percent] and Belmonte [20 percent].

Meanwhile, Sereno and Belmonte registered the highest ratings of distrust at 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

In contrast, both Aquino and Binay gained single-digit disapproval and distrust ratings [5 to 6 percent and 6 to 7 percent, respectively].

Only SC gains majority trust rating

The trust ratings of the three government institutions also remained unchanged from January to February but it was only the Supreme Court that gained a majority trust rating in February of 52 percent.

The Senate was able to obtain a near majority trust rating of 49 percent but the House of Representatives registered almost the same trust and indecision scores of 44 versus 43 percent.

The said institutions showed basically the same overall distrust ratings of nine to 11 percent, said Pulse Asia.

It added that the figures registered did not differ from those recorded in its January pre-election survey.