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By Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter
President Gloria Arroyo’s
approval ratings dropped again, with 51 percent of Filipinos
discontented with her performance and 57 percent saying they
distrust her, the latest Pulse Asia survey showed.
According to survey results
released Monday, disapproval on President Arroyo’s performance
increased from 39 percent in October 2007 to 51 percent in its
latest survey conducted from February 21 to March 8, while distrust
also went up from 46 percent to 57 percent.
The survey also reported that
Mrs. Arroyo obtained the lowest disapproval (20 percent) and
distrust ratings (40 percent) in the Visayas.
In contrast, the President had
the highest disapproval and distrust ratings in Metro Manila, where
she got 71 percent and 76 percent, respectively.
Corruption issues sparked by
controversial government deals involving the First Family have been
seen as the main reason for the recent decline in Mrs. Arroyo’s
approval and trust ratings.
“The unresolved controversies
that continue to hound the incumbent national administration appear
to be taking its toll on President Arroyo as about one in two
Filipinos expresses criticism for her performance in the previous
quarter,” Pulse Asia said.
The same survey found out that
about 87 percent of Filipinos were aware of the allegations of
corruption involving the allegedly overpriced $330-million National
Broadband Network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
“Almost nine in 10 Filipinos
report awareness of the ZTE-NBN issue, with 69 percent saying they
have heard or read about the issue many, many times already, and 18
percent claiming to have heard or read about the issue only several
times or at least once,” Pulse Asia reported.
The survey firm also said that of
those aware of Senate witness on the broadband investigation Rodolfo
“Jun” Lozada Jr.’s testimony, 57 percent consider him to be a
credible witness, while 8 percent think otherwise.
Pulse Asia added that among four
key personalities (Lozada, Jose “Joey” de Venecia 3rd, Romulo
Neri and Benjamin Abalos Sr.) who have testified before the Senate
on the broadband issue, Lozada is considered the most credible with
62 percent of those aware of his Senate testimony.
According to Pulse Asia, the
nationwide survey was conducted when news headlines were dominated
by the Senate investigation into the broadband issue, the various
protest actions calling on Mrs. Arroyo to step down from office, and
the divided stance of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines on the issue of the President’s resignation, among
others.
Pulse Asia used a sample of 1,200
adult Filipinos age 18 years and older, interviewed face-to-face.
The survey has a plus or minus 3 percent margin of error.
Opposition senators, meanwhile,
rated better. Using the same nationwide survey as reference, Pulse
Asia noted that in terms of approval ratings, “opposition senators
[scored] better than their counterparts aligned with the
administration.”
Sen. Loren Legarda received the
highest approval ratings among senators with 79 percent. Sen.
Francis Escudero followed with 77 percent, and Senators Francis
Pangilinan and Mar Roxas with 76 percent and 72 percent,
respectively.
The lowest approval ratings went
to Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, 41 percent; Joker Arroyo, 45
percent; and Richard Gordon, 49 percent.
Pulse Asia said, “There are
very few marked movements in these senators’ performance rating
between October 2007 and March 2008 with the most pronounced
changes” with the exception of the 10-percentage point improvement
in the approval rating of Sen. Jamby Madrigal.
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