Category: Mamasapano

PNoy’s ratings plunge

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment
PRESIDENT BENIGNO S. AQUINO III as he delivers his speech during the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) – Coke Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) Program Women's Month Celebration 2015 at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena, MOA Complex in Pasay City on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 | Rey Baniquet / Malacañang Photo Bureau / PCOO

PRESIDENT BENIGNO S. AQUINO III as he delivers his speech during the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) – Coke Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) Program Women’s Month Celebration 2015 at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena, MOA Complex in Pasay City on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 | Rey Baniquet / Malacañang Photo Bureau / PCOO

Top five government officials fail to get majority trust and approval ratings

The trust and approval of Filipinos for President Benigno S. Aquino III dropped significantly compared to the ratings of four other top government officials of the country, the March 2015 Ulat ng Bayan survey results of creditable pollster Pulse Asia showed.

During the November 14, 2014 to March 15, 2015 period, Aquino’s approval ratings dropped by minus 21 points (38 percent from 59 percent) while those of Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon remained unchanged (46 and 49 percent, respectively).

SEN. PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DRILON, center | Senate Photo

SEN. PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DRILON, center | Senate Photo

Approval for House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte (27 percent from 34 percent) and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno (29 percent from 37 percent) also dropped.

Disapproval for the performance of Aquino also increased by 12 percentage points (23 percent from 11 percent) while that of Binay remained unchanged at 23 percent.

VICE-PRESIDENT BINAY, left, with President Benigno S. Aquino III. Is Binay pretending to be poor? | Photo from PCOO

VICE-PRESIDENT BINAY, left, with President Benigno S. Aquino III | Photo from PCOO

Almost the same number of Filipinos, however, are undecided about the performance of Aquino (39 percent). The percentage of those undecided was highest for Belmonte (53 percent), followed by Sereno (48 percent), Drilon (38 percent), and Binay (30 percent).

SOURCE: Pulse Asia

SOURCE: Pulse Asia

Aquino also got the highest loss of trust among Filipinos (36 percent from 56 percent) while the ratings of Binay (42 percent from 44 percent) and Drilon (44 percent from 42 percent) were almost unchanged while those of Belmonte and Sereno improved slightly (five percent and four percent, respectively).

SOURCE: Pulse Asia

SOURCE: Pulse Asia

 

Significantly, however, none of the leading government officials were able to obtain majority and approval ratings for the first quarter of 2015, Pulse Asia said.

Pulse Asia conducted the survey fieldwork for the survey from March 1 to 7, 2015, using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 representative adults aged 18 years old and above.

It said the survey has a plus/minus three percent margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level while estimates in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao have a plus/minus six percent margin of error with a level of confidence also at 95 percent.

The Mamasapano operation and related developments dominated the news headlines before and during the face-to-face interviews conducted by Pulse Asia from March 1 – 7, 2015. These included:

  • The declaration by President Benigno S. Aquino III of 30 January 2015 as National Day of Mourning for the fallen officers;
  • The President’s absence during the arrival honors for the 42 of the 44 fallen policemen whose bodies arrived at the Villamor Air Base from Maguindanao on 29 January;
  • President Aquino’s conferment of the Medalya ng Katapangan upon the 44 slain PNP-SAF policemen during the necrological services held as part of the National Day of Mourning;
  • The conduct of several investigations to shed light on what really transpired in Mamasapano and who should be held accountable for the death of the 44 policemen;
  • A proposal for the creation of a still another body – an independent truth commission – to conduct a probe into the incident;
  • Amidst the unresolved questions surrounding the Mamasapano incident, calls for the resignation of President Aquino by several senior bishops belonging to the National Transformation Council (NTC), student groups and other militant organizations;
  • The statement by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that it is not supportive of such calls even as it favors the creation of a truth commission; and
  • The expression by several business groups of their continued support for President Aquino and his administration’s peace initiatives in Mindanao despite the events in Mamasapano.

    SOURCE: Pulse Asia

    SOURCE: Pulse Asia

Other developments during this period that are connected to the Mamasapano encounter were:

  • The removal of PNP-SAF Commander Getulio Napeñas who was removed from his post on 27 January 2015 following the death of 44 of his men during the Mamasapano encounter;
  • The resignation of PNP Director General Alan Purisima on 05 February 2015 amidst reports that he was involved in the decision-making process related to the police operation in Mamasapano whilst under preventive suspension resulting from a graft and corruption charge;
  • Reports that disgruntled members of the country’s armed forces are planning to stage a coup against President Aquino in the aftermath of the Mamasapano incident and expressions of loyalty to the Philippine government by high ranking military and police officers who say that they still have to verify such reports; and
  • Military operations conducted toward the end of February 2015 by the AFP against the BIFF and the Abu Sayyaf in certain areas of Mindanao reportedly to reduce these groups’ ability to carry out violent attacks against civilians. The military offensive has resulted in casualties on both sides as well as the evacuation of thousands of civilians.

Pulse Asia said its pool of academic fellows “takes full responsibility for the design and conduct of the survey, as well as for analyses it makes based on the survey data.” Most important of all, “in keeping with our academic nature, no religious, political, economic, or partisan group influenced any of these processes.”

“Pulse Asia Research undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort,” it said.

Inflation, workers’ pay, corruption? PNoy scores low approval ratings

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

THE ADMINISTRATION of President Benigno S.Aquino III failed to score a majority approval rating on any of the 12 “urgent national concerns and issues” on which it is performance was rated in March 2015 by the creditable pollster Pulse Asia Research Inc.

However, it scored a big plurality to near majority approval ratings on seven national issues: promoting peace in the country (40 percent), enforcing the rule of law (41percent), fighting governmental corruption (42 percent), defending national territorial integrity (43 percent), fighting criminality (45 percent), protecting the environment (48 percent), and addressing the needs of calamity victims (49 percent).

But disapproval was the plurality opinion that the Aquino administration got on the top three urgent national concerns of Filipinos, notably “controlling inflation,” “improving/increasing the pay of workers” and “controlling graft and corruption in the government.”

CONTROLLING inflation was the most urgent national concern based on the results of the Ulan ng Bayan survey of the Social Weather Stations on the urgent national concerns and performance ratings of the national administration. Photo shows a shopping list of a mother-sugarworker in Negros Occidental during the tigkiriwi or the off-milling season | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

CONTROLLING inflation was the most urgent national concern based on the results of the Ulat ng Bayan survey of the Social Weather Stations on the urgent national concerns and performance ratings of the national administration. Photo shows a shopping list of a mother-sugarworker in Negros Occidental during the tigkiriwi or the off-milling season | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Pulse Asia said the administration’s disapproval rating also remained the dominant sentiment as far as its efforts to reduce poverty at 40 percent.

Field work for Pulse Asia’s latest Ulat ng Bayan survey on “Urgent National Concerns and the Performance Ratings of the National Administration on Selected Issues” was conducted from March 1 – 7, 2015 using face-to-face interviews.

The major events that transpired during the last four months included the January 25, 2015 encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

IMPROVING / increasing the pay of workers was the second most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan survey results show | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

IMPROVING / increasing the pay of workers was the second most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan survey results show | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The survey, Pulse Asia said, “showed that the administration scored almost the same approval and indecision figures for its initiatives to create more jobs (37 percent versus 33 percent) and control population growth (37 percent versus 33 percent.)”

Public opinion, meanwhile, is split three-ways with respect to its performance in the area of increasing the pay of workers – 33 percent approval, 35 percent indecision, and 33 percent disapproval. However, appreciation is the plurality view concerning its anti-corruption work (42 percent).

These scores, Pulse Asia said, showed that “public assessment of the national administration’s performance remains largely unchanged” between November 2014, when it last conducted its Ulat ng Bayan survey, and March 2015, the date of its latest survey.

According to Pulse Asia, “for the most part, the performance ratings of the Aquino administration in March 2015 do not differ significantly from those recorded four months ago. ”

The only exceptions to this observation are, it said are the following: “decline in approval for the administration’s initiatives to defend national territorial integrity (-7 percentage points); (2) decrease in the level of ambivalence regarding its work in the area of enforcing the law equally on all citizens (-8 percentage points); and (3) increase in disapproval for its efforts to enforce the rule of law (+8 percentage points) and promote peace (+8 percentage points).”

FILIPINOS expect the Aquino administration to fight graft and corruption in government. This is the top three most urgent national concern. Photo shows a child with her mother who was working in a canefield in Negros Occidental | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

FILIPINOS expect the Aquino administration to fight graft and corruption in government. This is the top three most urgent national concern. Photo shows a child with her mother who was working in a canefield in Negros Occidental | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

The March 2015 Ulat ng Bayan Survey revealed that “Filipinos continue to be most concerned about economic-related issues; their sense of urgency regarding selected national issues remains unchanged between November 2014 and March 2015 as well as year-on-year.”

“In March 2015, the leading urgent national concerns among Filipinos are controlling inflation (46 percent), increasing the pay of workers (44 percent), and fighting corruption in government (40 percent), the report said.

“A second set of urgent national concerns include poverty reduction (37 percent) and job creation (34 percent) while a third cluster is comprised of criminality (22 percent), peace (22 percent), and rule of law (19 percent). Filipinos are least concerned about environmental degradation (13 percent), population control (9 percent), national territorial integrity (5 percent), terrorism (5 percent), and charter change (4 percent),” it added.

REDUCING poverty of many Filipinos was the fourth most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan shows | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

REDUCING poverty of many Filipinos was the fourth most urgent concern, the Ulat ng Bayan shows | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

These overall figures are “essentially the same as those recorded by Pulse Asia Research a year ago as well as in November 2014.”

In the different geographic areas, Pulse Asia said only two issues were cited as an urgent national concern by majority of residents – “inflation (52 percent in Mindanao) and low workers’ pay (53 percent in the Visayas).”

In Metro Manila, it added that, “the most often mentioned urgent national concerns are low workers’ pay (41 percent), inflation (43 percent), and corruption (49 percent).”

In the rest of Luzon, the top concerns deemed urgent by residents are creating more jobs (37 percent), fighting governmental corruption (38 percent), reducing poverty (41 percent), controlling inflation (44 percent), and increasing the pay of workers (48 percent).

Class ABC “are most concerned about corruption in government (37 percent), poverty (37 percent), low workers’ pay (42 percent), and inflation (49 percent).”

Class D rated its leading urgent national concerns to be low workers’ pay (43 percent), corruption (43 percent), and inflation (45 percent).

Class E cited its most concerned to be poverty (41 percent), job creation (42 percent), low workers’ pay (46 percent), and inflation (47 percent).

Across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes, however, “the least often cited urgent national concerns are territorial integrity (3 percent to 7 percent and 4 percent to 6 percent, respectively), terrorism (3 percent to 8 percent and 4 percent to 7 percent, respectively), and charter change (3 percent to 6 percent and 4 percent to 5 percent.”

As in its previous surveys, Pulse Asia’s latest was “based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above” and “has a ± 3% error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.”

“Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 6% error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level.” It added.

Pulse Asia said its pool of academic fellows “takes full responsibility for the design and conduct of the survey, as well as for analyses it makes based on the survey data.” Most important of all, “in keeping with our academic nature, no religious, political, economic, or partisan group influenced any of these processes.”

“Pulse Asia Research undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort,” it said.