Palace to ‘work harder’ to regain public trust amid Aquino ratings drop

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

MANILA, Philippines – After survey results showed a record drop in President Benigno Aquino III’s trust and approval ratings, Malacañang on Tuesday said it will strive harder to make the public understand the decisions of the administration and its effort to improve the lives of Filipinos.

“The people’s trust and confidence is continually earned,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told Palace reporters just hours after Pulse Asia revealed that Aquino’s trust and approval ratings dropped by 20 percentage points (from 36 percent in November 2014 to 36 percent in March this year) and 21 percentage points (from 59 percent November 2014 to 38 percent in March this year), respectively.

Coloma acknowledged that the drop in ratings, the lowest since Aquino became president in 2010, reflected public sentiment on the January 25 operation of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao.

READ: Pulse Asia: Aquino trust, approval ratings at their lowest after Mamasapano incident

While the SAF troopers succeeded in killing international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, the ensuing gunfight resulted in the deaths of 44 policemen, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and five civilians.

“From the outset, the President has acknowledged his personal responsibility,” Coloma said, quoting from Aquino’s February 6 speech.

“The President has repeatedly said that all successes and all failures of his administration land on his doorstep. He believes that in time the truth will set us all free. We are determined to work even harder to continually earn our people’s trust and confidence,” Coloma added.