PNoy’s trust ratings dip despite high-profile arrests, peace deal

Despite high-profile arrests and a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over the past months, President Benigno Aquino III’s trust ratings dipped slightly in the first quarter of the year, pollster Pulse Asia revealed Thursday.

The President’s trust ratings went down from 74 percent in December last year to 69 percent this March, a Pulse Asia survey conducted in late March on 1,200 Filipino adults showed.

The decline in the President’s trust ratings were most pronounced in Metro Manila and the Visayas (down 12 percentage points) and among the “very poor” Class E (down 11 percentage points).

On the other hand, Aquino’s approval ratings during the first three months of 2014 were virtually unchanged, from 73 percent last December to 70 percent last month.

In Mindanao, which is expected to benefit most from the government’s peace deal with the MILF, the President’s approval ratings slightly rose by two percentage points.

Despite lower trust ratings, Pulse Asia noted that “most Filipinos remain appreciative of, and continue to trust” Aquino.

The President also still enjoys majority trust and approval ratings across the country and among all socio-economic classes, the Pulse Asia survey showed.

The poll was conducted after the arrest of two of the country’s most wanted fugitives: Globe Asiatique founder Delfin Lee on March 6 in Manila and top communist leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon on March 22 in Cebu.

Also last month, the government inked its comprehensive peace pact with the MILF, which aims to end the decades-long armed conflict in Mindanao.

The survey period also covered the continuing probe on the alleged pork barrel scam, which prompted the biggest protest under Aquino in August last year.

During the past months, new witnesses Ruby Tuason and Dennis Cunanan offered fresh testimonies on the alleged anomaly. — RSJ, GMA News