Aquino admin was best so far, survey says

THE AQUINO administration had a “very good” satisfaction rating in its last months and the best overall performance rating seen since 1986, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Of the 1,200 respondents questioned between June 24 and 27, 66 percent were satisfied with the administration’s performance, while 17 percent were dissatisfied, and 17 percent were undecided.

This resulted in a net score (satisfied minus dissatisfied) of +50 in June, up 15 points from the “good” +35 (60 percent satisfied, 26 percent dissatisfied) in April.

The Aquino administration ended on June 30.

SWS considers a rating of plus 70 and above as “excellent”; plus 50 to plus 69, “very good”; plus 30 to plus 49, “good”; plus 10 to plus 29, “moderate”, plus 9 to  minus 9, “neutral”; minus 10 to minus 29, “poor”; minus 30 to minus 49, “bad”; minus 50 to minus 69, “very bad”; minus 70 and below, “execrable.”

 ‘By a mile’

The survey, first published in BusinessWorld, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

The administration of former President Benigno Aquino III was the best rated thus far, based on SWS data.

Mahar Mangahas, SWS president, said that “going by the full record of SWS surveys since 1986, Aquinos’s administration rendered the most satisfaction to the Filipino people, by the proverbial mile.”

Mangahas said the Aquino administration had six-year average overall performance of “good” at +47.

This compares to the “neutral” -2 average in the nine years (35 surveys) of President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; “moderate” +15 average in the two and a half years (10 surveys) of President now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada; “moderate” +14 average in the six years (24 surveys) of President Fidel V. Ramos.

SWS started its administration satisfaction surveys midway in the term of the late President Corazon Aquino in 1989, and in the five SWS surveys of administration performance in 1989 to 1992, the average net rating was +5, Mangahas added.

 Mindanao most improved

The government’s net satisfaction scores rose in all geographical areas and socioeconomic classes.

By area, net satisfaction with the government improved the most in Mindanao, from +33 in April to +60 in June. B Ana Roa, Inquirer Research