Satisfaction with Aquino down markedly

PUBLIC SATISFACTION with President Benigno S. C. Aquino III has hit a low point, falling to “good” from “very good” in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted last month.

Results of the Sept. 20-23 poll put Mr. Aquino’s net rating at +49, with 68% of the respondents claiming they were satisfied with his performance and 19% declaring otherwise.

This was 15 points down from the “very good” +64 three months earlier and was only the fourth time that it fell below +50 since the president took office in 2010, the SWS said.

It remains some way off the record low of +42 (“good”) notched in May last year. A record “very good” +67, it should be noted, was hit three months later.

The SWS classifies net satisfaction scores of +70 and above as “excellent”; +50 to +69, “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”, +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; and -70 and below, “execrable”.

Palace officials were not immediately available for comment but a political analyst said the drop was due to the so-called pork barrel scam and last month’s Zamboanga crisis.

The SWS noted declines in Mr. Aquino’s net satisfaction ratings across all areas, socioeconomic classes and gender, although these did not fall below “good”.

His score remained “very good” at +52 in Mindanao, but this was down six points from June and marked a return to a record low hit in September 2010. It also stayed “very good” in Balance Luzon at +52 but was down 15 points from the previous quarter.

In Metro Manila the decline was a narrower eight points to a still “good” +38. A marked 26-point fall, however, was recorded in the Visayas, to a “good” +48 from June’s “excellent” +74.

Rural net satisfaction, meanwhile, fell by 18 points to a “very good ” +52 from the “excellent” +70 seen three months earlier, while urban net satisfaction dropped to a “good” +47 from June’s “very good” +57.

By socioeconomic class, Mr. Aquino’s net rating among the D or “masa” stayed “very good” at +52, although this was down 10 points. The fall was a larger 20 points among the ABC, to a “very good” +55 from June’s “excellent” +75. It hit a record low of +39 (“good”) among the class E, down 29 points from the “very good” +68 three months earlier.

Mr. Aquino’s net score stayed “very good” among women at +50 but was down 13 points. Men gave him a “good” +48, 16 points lower from June.

“Obviously, Napoles, pork barrel, and Zamboanga have taken their toll,” political analyst Ramon C. Casiple noted. While still high, he said Mr. Aquino “should be concerned because a political battle has started”.

Several legislators have been charged over the alleged misuse of their priority development assistance funds, with some P10 billion supposedly having been diverted to bogus non-government organizations set up by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

The controversy over the use of government funds has since ballooned, with the Aquino administration now taking flak over its Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Also last month, rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front occupied parts of Zamboanga City to protest a pending peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Over 200 people were killed in the three weeks that it took government troops to regain control.

The September SWS survey involved face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adult Filipinos nationwide. The sampling error margins were ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages. –Businessworld