De Castro tops new SWS poll on satisfaction

Among top government officials, Filipinos are satisfied with Vice-President Noli de Castro the most, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey done in the first quarter of 2009.

Some 60 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the performance of de Castro, while 24 percent said they were dissatisfied. His net rating—satisfied percentage minus dissatisfied percentage—was plus 34 percent, which is higher compared with the ratings of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Chief Justice Reynato Puno and House Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Previous SWS surveys showed that de Castro consistently got high satisfaction rates.

“Vice President de Castro’s latest net satisfaction rating of good [plus] 36 is similar to good [plus] 39 in December 2008. His net performance rating has been [plus] 30 and above since June 2006,” SWS reported, citing its previous surveys.

Trailing de Castro was Enrile, whose satisfaction rate went up from plus 5 percent in the previous quarter to plus 8 percent in the first three months of 2009.

Puno’s rating remained “neutral,” the survey said. He received a plus 3 percent in February 2009, a dip related to his plus 4 percent in December. “His net performance rating has been consistently neutral for nine consecutive survey rounds.”

The satisfaction rating of Nograles, however, fell from minus 17 percent in the last quarter of last year to minus 22 percent in the first quarter this year.

Referring to Nograles, SWS reported that “this is the lowest rating as yet for Speakers of the House of Representatives since 1990.”

Sentiment on institutions

Together, the satisfaction ratings of the three officials were “fair,” SWS said, adding that the ratings of the institutions they serve fell.

The net satisfaction rating of the Senate went down three points, from positive 26 percent to positive 23 percent. It is the only institution that got a “good” rating in the poll.

The House of Representatives, Supreme Court and the Cabinet all received “moderate” net satisfaction ratings. Satisfaction with the House fell from positive 9 percent to positive 2 percent; for the High Court, from positive 8 percent to positive 4 percent; and the Cabinet, from negative 1 percent to negative 7 percent.

According to a statement, SWS survey was conducted from February 20 to 23 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The balance of Luzon refers to all regions on the main island, except Metro Manila.

The margin of error was plus or minus 2.5 percent for national percentages, and plus or minus 6 percent for area percentages. “The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2009 to obtain the national estimates,” SWS said in a statement.

Also, the survey was not commissioned and was done “on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” the statement added.
— Mary Athena D. De Paz, Manila Times