President Aquino, center, inspects a temporary shelter for typhoon victims during his visit to Tacloban city, on Dec. 22, 2013. By area, the President posted the worst drop in approval and trust ratings in Metro Manila and the Visayas, large areas of which were devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda last November. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino’s approval and trust ratings declined slightly nationwide but these posted huge declines among the poor, and in Metro Manila and the Visayas, results of a Pulse Asia survey conducted last month showed.
Pulse Asia said Aquino registered an approval rating of 70 percent, down from 73 percent last December. His trust rating stood at 69 percent, a decline from 74 percent.
His trust rating dropped the most among Class E, the poorest of the poor—to 69 percent from 80 percent.
By area, the President posted the worst drop in approval and trust ratings in Metro Manila and the Visayas, large areas of which were devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda last November.
His approval rating improved only in Mindanao where it went up by two points from 78 percent to 80 percent but remained unchanged in Luzon outside Metro Manila at 68 percent.
On March 27, the Philippine government signed a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of war in Mindanao.
Malacañang downplayed the decrease in the President’s trust and performance ratings.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the decline in performance rating was “marginal” and “well within the usual statistical margin of error.”
“There are likely to be ups and downs or ebbs and flows in public opinion survey results, but we remain focused on the attainment of the Philippine Development Plan objectives,” he said at a press briefing.
Aquino’s approval rating in Metro Manila went down 12 points to 57 percent last month from 69 percent in December while it dropped 10 points in the Visayas to 72 percent from 82 percent.
‘Only marginal’
His trust rating dropped 12 points in the same areas. The President’s trust rating declined to 57 percent from 69 percent in Metro Manila and to 69 percent from 81 percent in the Visayas.
But according to Pulse Asia, these changes were “only marginal movements” and were within the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for national data and plus or minus 6 percentage points for regional data.
In a statement, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the confidence and trust of the Filipino people in the President remained overwhelming.
“The most recent sampling of public opinion is the latest manifestation that the President’s efforts, his governance and the administration’s mission to empower our people by instituting permanent change, are indivisible from the aspirations and efforts of our people as a whole,” she said.
“The President time and again has said that the Filipino people are his strength. These results steel the resolve of the President and his team to accelerate even further the pursuit of progress, as we continue to tread the straight path to inclusive growth,” Valte added.
Among other socioeconomic classes, the approval rating of the President dropped 9 points among Class ABC to 62 percent from 71 percent and Class E to 70 percent from 79 percent. It remained unchanged in Class D at 72 percent.
Trust ratings among Class ABC dropped to 62 percent from 67 percent while in Class D, it dropped to 71 percent from 73 percent.
Trust ratings also remained unchanged in the rest of Luzon at 70 percent and in Mindanao from 77 percent to 76 percent.
From March 19 to 26, Pulse Asia conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,200 representative adults aged 18 and older.–Reports from Inquirer Research and Christian V. Esguerra
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