Most gov’t execs suffer declines in satisfaction ratings–SWS

Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay and other high government officials saw a decline in their public satisfaction ratings amid controversies involving various government institutions, the Social Weather Stations found in a survey.

The survey was conducted from Dec. 11 to 16 and was first published in the BusinessWorld newspaper.

Binay scored a “very good” +62 net satisfaction rating in the fourth quarter of 2013 survey (75 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied), seven points down from his +69 rating (78 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in September.

In an earlier report, SWS said President Aquino’s net satisfaction rating remained unchanged at “good” +49 in December, yielding a 2013 full-year average of +55, a slight improvement from his +53 similar averages in 2012 and 2011.

The ratings of Senate President Franklin Drilon saw a big  drop of 12 points since he reassumed the position in June, to a “moderate” +25 (52 percent satisfied, 26 percent dissatisfied) from “good” +37 (55 percent satisfied, 18 percent dissatisfied) in the previous quarter.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte’s public satisfaction rating remained “moderate” at +16 (41 percent satisfied, 25 percent dissatisfied), two points below his +18 (41 percent satisfied, 23 percent dissatisfied) score three months earlier.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno’s rating  slid by a point to yield a still “moderate” +16 (40 percent satisfied, 25 percent dissatisfied), from +17 (39 percent satisfied, 22 percent dissatisfied) in September.

The SWS also found the Cabinet having the biggest decline among top government institutions, recording a “moderate” +20 (46 percent satisfied, 26 percent dissatisfied), down seven points from the previous quarter.

The Supreme Court and the Senate both enjoyed “good” scores of +36 (57 percent satisfied, 22 percent dissatisfied) and +33 (57 percent satisfied, 24 percent dissatisfied), respectively.

Public satisfaction with the House of Representatives stood at a “moderate” +26 (51 percent satisfied, 24 percent dissatisfied), a point lower than the previous quarter.

The SWS considers net satisfaction ratings of plus 70 and above as “excellent”; plus 50 to plus 69, “very good”; plus 30 to plus 49, “good”; plus 10 to plus 29, “moderate”; plus 9 to minus 9, “neutral”; minus 10 to minus 29, “poor”; minus 30 to minus 49, “bad”; minus 50 to minus 69, “very bad”; and minus 70 and below, “execrable.”

At the time of the survey, the government was conducting massive rehabilitation in the areas devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Eastern Visayas.

Meanwhile, the House committee on power was probing Manila Electric Co.’s hefty rate increase of P4.15 per kilowatt hour following the shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas pipeline from Nov. 9 to Dec. 9.

The Inquirer also reported that an alleged “fixer” in the Supreme Court, Arlene Angeles Lerma, was identified for influencing court decisions in favor of her clients with huge payoffs to judges and justices.

The survey, which used face-to-face interviews of 1,550 Filipinos, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.5 percent.