Drop in Robredo rating ‘expected’ amid mudslinging—LP senators

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Bam Aquino, Vice President Leni Robredo, and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Two Liberal Party (LP) senators played down on Tuesday the 11-point drop in Vice President Leni Robredo’s satisfaction rating in the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, with one saying it was expected given all the black propaganda against her.

“It is expected that there will be drops as well as increases in her satisfaction ratings,” Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, president of LP, said in a text message.

“The 11-point-drop means that a segment of the population may not be in agreement with a number of positions she has taken but that is expected as well,” he added.

Pangilinan, who is also part of the Senate minority bloc, was reacting to the SWS survey conducted from March 25 to 28, which showed that Robredo’s net satisfaction rating plunged to 26 percent from 37 percent in December last year. Robredo is chairperson of LP.

READ: Robredo’s net satisfaction rating falls by 11 points — SWS

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Bam Aquino, an LP member, echoed Pangilinan’s statement.

“This was expected with all the black propaganda against her, but it only affected a smaller percentage of the respondents, as the majority are still supportive of the Vice-president,” Aquino said in a separate text message to reporters.

“To rebound, her office needs to continue pushing her agenda of uplifting the lives of our marginalized countrymen. And find a way to ensure that that message of hope and solidarity is louder than the mudslinging done by her detractors,” the senator said.

Robredo is facing impeachment threats from President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in Congress for criticizing the government’s bloody war on drugs in a video message to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

Despite the decline in her net satisfaction rating, the survey showed that 50 percent of Filipinos remained satisfied with Robredo’s performance, 27 percent were dissatisfied and 19 percent were undecided.

The poll, conducted among 1,200 adult respondents, had a ±3% sampling error margin. IDL