Has Aquino’s survival crisis risen to a new level?

The cataclysmic collapse of his credibility and trust ratings has sent President B. S. Aquino 3rd spinning in the wind, as it were. According to reports, 79 percent of those polled found his explanation about the Mamasapano, Maguindanao massacre “not enough,” only 10 percent believed it, and his trust rating has fallen to a net 14 percent. Bad as these numbers are, the real statistics could be far worse, given the pressure on even the most honest pollsters to fudge their findings.

Aquino’s inspired reaction was to approve the release of “the transcript of his text messages” with the then-suspended(now resigned) Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima when the House of Representatives resumes its own inquiry into the massacre of 44 PNP-Special Action Force commandos on a mission to “neutralize” three international terrorists being harbored by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.