The net satisfaction rating of the Senate suffered a huge drop in the wake of the public uproar over the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program, according to results of a recent survey of big business leaders. PHOTO BY EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines–How the mighty fall.
The net satisfaction ratings of the Senate and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) suffered huge drops in the wake of the public uproar over the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), according to results of a recent survey of big business leaders.
The Supreme Court has declared the PDAF, a source of kickbacks for lawmakers, and the DAP, a Malacañang stimulus program derived from savings of agencies, unconstitutional.
The Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President were not spared. Both saw their rankings plunge.
Based on the survey of members of the Makati Business Club (MBC) last month, the Senate fell 48 places from 14th place to the bottom (62nd), while the DBM dropped 46 notches from 4th to 50th place.
Next to the Senate at the bottom was the House of Representatives, which fell to 61st place.
In the survey, conducted on July 1-25 and covering 65 respondents, business leaders gave 43 of 62 national agencies and offices positive net satisfaction ratings.
During the survey period, the Supreme Court declared the DAP unconstitutional; investigations on rice smuggling and hoarding began; the government peace panel met with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law; and Typhoon “Glenda” caused power outages.
Two weeks before the start of the survey, Senators Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada were detained in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, on plunder and graft charges in connection with the P10-billion PDAF scam.
On July 3, it was the turn of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to be detained in Camp Crame on the same charges.
Results of the survey showed that the net performance rankings of 31 government agencies declined.
Worst declines
Along with the Senate and the DBM, the worst declines were those of the Department of Agriculture (18th to 60th), Department of Energy (24th to 53rd), House of Representatives (37th to 61st) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (21st to 43rd).
The Office of the President fell 22 places from 14th to 36th, while the Office of the Vice President dropped 25 rungs from 8th to 33rd.
Hearing Aquino’s position
Reacting to the MBC survey, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said: “If indeed the drop is attributed to the DAP issue, is it possible that some or many respondents may have participated in the survey without hearing the President’s position, considering that he began speaking only on July 15?
“Be that as it may, we take cognizance of the decline and wish to be able to address their concerns better as they are important stakeholders in growing the economy,” he said in a statement.
BSP No. 1
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remained the top performing government agency “on account of its role in helping maintain macroeconomic and financial stability in the business environment,” MBC executive director Peter Perfecto said in a statement.
“Pagasa (the weather bureau), Opapp (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) and the newly organized Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) have made surprisingly impressive debuts in the business scorecard of government performance,” Perfecto noted.
The PSA is a merger of the National Statistics Office, National Statistical Coordination Board, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, and Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics.
Perfecto explained that the Pagasa, Opapp and PSA’s ratings were respectively due to the “improvement in disseminating accurate weather forecasts, the successful signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the continuing effort to make the country’s statistical system more accurate and efficient.”
Top 10
The three agencies made it to the Top 10, with Pagasa ranking 4th, Opapp 8th, and PSA 10th.
Others in the top group were the Department of Tourism (DOT) (2nd), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (3rd), Securities and Exchange Commission (5th), Department of Foreign Affairs (6th), Department of Health (7th) and Department of Finance (9th).
Nineteen agencies led by the Senate and House of Representatives received negative net satisfaction scores.
The bottom 10 also included the Department of Agriculture, Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, the lower court system, Philippine National Police, Department of Transportation and Communications, Bureau of Customs, Department of Energy and Commission on Appointments.
“Compared with the previous survey, 14 agencies have gained better rankings, led by the Supreme Court (51st to 23rd), Department of Public Works and Highways (27th to 12th), Commission on Audit (31st to 12th), Commission on Elections (45th to 33rd), and Civil Service Commission (30th to 19th),” Perfecto said. “Except for DPWH, the four most-improved agencies are constitutional offices.”
The Inquirer tried to reach Senate President Franklin Drilon for comment on the MBC survey, but he did not respond to calls.
In a forum on Monday morning, Drilon blamed the controversies on the DAP and PDAF for the steep drop in public satisfaction with the government’s general performance.
“I would have to give this to the involvement of a number of our senators … in this so-called PDAF scandal [and] in the issue on the DAP, which has not been received well by our people,” he said.–Reports from Ronnel W. Domingo and TJ Burgonio
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