Binay ratings drop 15 points; he’s still most trusted
MANILA, Philippine–Buffeted by serious allegations of graft during his term as mayor of Makati City, Vice President Jejomar Binay saw both his approval and trust ratings drop 15 percentage points between June and September, results of a recent Pulse Asia survey showed.
Cutting across geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, the Vice President’s approval rating declined from 81 percent to 66 percent. His trust rating fell from 79 percent to 64 percent.
These were the biggest declines among the country’s top officials, although the Vice President still had the highest approval and trust ratings.
President Aquino’s approval rating was down by one percentage point to 55 percent, as the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Using face-to-face interviews, the nationwide survey covered 1,200 Filipinos aged 18 and older.
In the same survey, the results of which were released last week, the Vice President’s rating also took a hit among voters, declining 10 percentage points. He, however, continued to lead potential rivals in the presidential election in 2016.
Article continues after this advertisementBinay topped the list of 15 potential presidential candidates with 31 percent, down from the 41-percent voter preference in July.
Article continues after this advertisementIn Koronadal City, the Vice President on Sunday took time to analyze his 10-percentage point drop in Pulse Asia’s presidential performance survey.
Doing the math
Speaking on radio, Binay said his decline in the survey had to do with the fact that it looked into 15 possible presidential contenders.
“Di ba sa arithmetic natin, when the divisor increases, the dividend decreases,” Binay said in a Bombo Radyo radio interview, a transcript of which was released to the media in Manila by his office.
He said this was a much different survey because of the big number of persons included.
But he noted that while there were 15 would-be candidates who were covered in the survey, only the results of the 11, including him, were disclosed.
Binay admitted though that the corruption allegations against him had somehow a little effect on the drop.
The approval rating of Senate President Franklin Drilon was 39 percent, down 13 percentage points. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. also saw his approval rating decline 3 points to 30 percent. The approval rating of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno went down 2 points to 33 percent.
Among the top officials, only Aquino and Binay scored majority approval ratings, Pulse Asia said.
“Most Filipinos remain appreciative of the quarterly performance of President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay,” the survey form said in a statement released Tuesday.
Malacañang was “gratified” with the results of the survey. “This indication of broad support serves to spur the administration to greater efforts toward fulfilling its reform agenda and the President’s social contract with the Filipino people,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a statement.
Blaming Senate probe
The Binay camp accepted the big drop in the Vice President’s performance and trust ratings, blaming it on the ongoing Senate inquiry into the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.
“The Vice President is grateful that he remains the most trusted government official despite the baseless attacks,” Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, Binay’s spokesman for political concerns, said in a statement.
Remulla said Binay would continue to clarify the corruption allegations against him “directly to the people” and would perform his duties.
The Vice President is in Mindanao to oversee government housing projects and will be back in Manila on Friday, according to Joey Salgado, the spokesman and head of Binay’s media office.
Plunder complaint
Binay has denied allegations hurled by officials under him in Makati City when he was still mayor that he allowed the rigging of city infrastructure projects, including the Makati City Hall Building II, and benefited from kickbacks from favored contractors.
Binay and his son are not only the subject of a Senate inquiry but also of a plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged P2.3-billion Makati City parking building.
Remulla said that the investigation by the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III was “intended to influence the surveys.”
He said the Pulse Asia survey was conducted during the height of the Senate investigations and had not covered the live speech the Vice President delivered to rebut the corruption allegations against him and his family on Sept. 18.
“We felt that it would have been a different picture had the survey captured this event since the people would have heard the Vice President’s point-by-point reply,” he said.
Remulla said the 15-point drop in Binay’s approval and trust ratings registered mainly in the urban areas because of “media access,” as the Vice President’s numbers were basically unchanged in the rural areas.
Sen. Nancy Binay took in stride her father’s drop in ratings, pointing out that despite this, he remained the most trusted official.
Gravity
“He can’t always be on the rise. At some point, he has to go down. That’s how gravity works, right?” she told reporters.
She acknowledged that the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s investigation of the parking building had adversely affected her father.
The allegations that came out in the hearings obscured the work the Vice President has done for his countrymen, she said.
“That’s what that survey is for, I guess. He needs to be more aggressive and be more industrious when it comes to doing his job,” she said, adding that they will work to bring his numbers up.
But the senator also pointed out that the survey period that showed a dive in her father’s trust rating did not cover the time when he made his speech criticizing the Senate inquiry and refuting the allegation.
“Let’s wait for the results of the next survey,” she said.
Pimentel said the Senate was not intended to affect anybody’s chances in the elections.
Search for truth
Pimentel said the inquiry was only after the truth and was intended to minimize graft and corruption, especially at the local level.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr., only son of the Vice President, has been trying to stop the Senate probe of the Makati building, saying that determining criminal liability was the province of the courts and not the Senate.
He has also criticized the subcommittee hearing for supposedly having prejudged him and his family.
Drilon has defended the hearings by saying these were not intended to gather evidence for criminal prosecution. He said the hearings were a search for truth and were intended to help senators craft legislation.–Reports from Inquirer Research, Leila B. Salaverria, Christine O. Avendaño and Christian V. Esguerra
RELATED STORIES
