Most Pinoys trust Aquino

Fumbles fail to pull down marks – survey

Results of a Pulse Asia survey released on Monday showed that President Benigno Aquino 3rd continues to enjoy the confidence and trust of Filipinos despite various controversies and missteps that plagued his administration.
While he was pleased with the latest Pulse Asia survey, President Aquino vowed to work harder to improve further his performance and trust ratings.

In a nationwide poll conducted between October 20 and 29, respondents in all geographic areas gave the President a 76-percent to 86-percent approval rating and a 75-percent to 87-percent trust rating, with those in the Visayas grading him very highly.

Across socio-economic groupings, 74 percent to 83 percent of those polled approved of Mr. Aquino’s performance while 78 percent to 85 percent said that they still trust him. But two out of 10 Filipinos failed to say if they approved or disapproved of his performance (18 percent) and if they trusted or distrusted him (17 percent).

Pulse Asia also noted this indecision cutting across geographic areas (between 12 percent and 23 percent) and socio-economic classes (between 14 percent and 21 percent), resulted in the President posting single-digit disapproval and distrust ratings at the national level (3 percent and 2 percent, respectively), and in the different geographic areas (2 percent to 4 percent and 1 percent to 4 percent, respectively).

Small majorities of Filipinos approved of the Aquino administration’s efforts in addressing key national issues, such as criminality (62 percent), job creation (59 percent), law enforcement (58 percent), corruption (57 percent), peace (56 percent), worker’s pay (56 percent), population control (53 percent) and environmental degradation (51 percent).

Additionally, the Aquino administration scored plurality approval ratings on three concerns—expanding the sources of government funds (48 percent), poverty reduction (47 percent) and inflation (45 percent), which about one in 10 Filipinos (49 percent) consider to be an urgent national issue. It is on these last two issues, though, that the Aquino government earned its highest disapproval ratings (21 percent and 18 percent, respectively).

Nearly the same disapproval ratings (9 percent to 14 percent) were registered by the current administration on the other national issues probed in the survey. Indecision levels ranged from 28 percent on criminality to 42 percent on the expansion of sources of government funds.

According to Pulse Asia, the survey was based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a plus or minus 3 percent error margin at the 95-percent confidence level.

Sub-national estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a plus or minus 6-percent margin of error, also at 95-percent confidence level.

Palace still confident

Mr. Aquino said that the recent Pulse Asia survey showed that the public still approves of his administration.

“I will work even more to ensure that the numbers will even get better not because I’m chasing numbers, but rather I think I have just been given new directions by [the country’s] neighbors that what I’m doing is on the right track and therefore we should accelerate the process,” the President added.

He said that his previous 88-percent trust rating was given to him when he had not yet assumed the presidency.

But Mr. Aquino admitted that the bungled handling of the August 23 hostage crisis, which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, also contributed to the decline of his trust ratings.

In a statement, Malacañang spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the President’s ratings indicated “the shared optimism among all sectors of society, in contrast to the negativity of those who want to return to the old ways.” Lacierda added that the public’s confidence in the President “affirms his conviction that the straight and righteous path is the road to success.”

He said that it also “acknowledges the work done so far and serves as an impetus for the administration to sustain its efforts to reform the government and revitalize the economy.”

Lacierda added  that Mr. Aquino “urges all sectors to continue taking part in his administration’s agenda of change. The administration will not let the country down.”

Malacañang said that the ratings are “not merely a measure of [the President’s] executive competence, but rather reflect the strong solidarity between the government and the people as they work together to achieve change.” –ALVIN I. DACANAY AND CRIS G. ODRONIA, Manila Times