SWS: Aquino better than the rest

President Aquino outperforms past Presidents in all respects according to the Social Weather Stations. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—If public perception were the sole judge, democracy in the Philippines is healthy and in a very good shape, with the present administration outperforming the past administrations in all respects, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

But for the Aquino administration, the unsolved Maguindanao massacre case remains its sore point.

The public’s satisfaction with how democracy works hit a new record high in 2013 under the Aquino administration with 74 percent satisfied and 59 percent believing democracy is still preferable to any other kind of government.

But some 21 percent “sometimes prefer authoritarianism,” Mahar Mangahas, president of the Social Weather Stations, said in his presentation of the 2014 SWS Survey Review at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City.

The SWS described the net satisfaction rating of President Aquino as “very good” as it garnered plus-51 as of 2013, far higher than his predecessors, even that of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

No. 1 thing to solve

Mangahas particularly cited the performance of the present administration in “helping disaster victims, providing basic education, defending territorial rights and transparency in government and foreign relations.”

“Their work is appreciated. But definitely it should do something on the Maguindanao massacre case. That is the No. 1 thing they should solve,” Mangahas said.

He called the country’s worst political massacre in history as the administration’s “sore point.”

The Aquino administration suffered a backlash in its task to resolve the Nov. 23, 2009, Maguindanao massacre case, registering a minus-26 net satisfaction rating as of 2013 while the trend continued to be on the negative since 2009, Mangahas said.

Fifty-eight people, including 32 journalists, were killed allegedly by the private army of the influential Ampatuan clan to stop a member of a rival clan from running against them in the 2010 local elections.

The Ampatuan patriarch, two sons and several family members have been charged and are in custody.

As of December 2013, 86 percent believed that the trial was “much too slow.”

“P-Noy’s term is OK. The democracy is healthy from the people’s standpoint. It just shows that the people are content and satisfied,” Mangahas told reporters.

Marked by trials

The year 2014, however, has been marked by trials with the Super Typhoon “Yolanda” being the source of the people’s “great suffering.”

However, results of the SWS survey showed that 73 percent of Yolanda victims surveyed were satisfied with the response of the Aquino government during and after the typhoon struck.

Peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were deemed sign of “persistent hope for peace, much more so among Muslims,” with 59 percent of Muslims expressing hope there would be peace between the military and the Moro rebels.

Mangahas noted that while the ratings of the Aquino administration were high compared to the previous administrations, the years ahead “remain a challenge.”

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