MANILA — It seems that the Aquino administration is off to a good start with 85 percent of Filipinos expressing trust in President Benigno Simeon Aquino III – the highest trust rating ever recorded by an individual in Pulse Asia’s trust survey.
The survey results, conducted July 1-11 with 1,200 respondents and released only on Monday, show that 85 percent of Filipinos expressed trust in President Aquino, while a negligible percentage (2 percent) expressed distrust in him.
Meanwhile, 13 percent were unable to say if they trust or distrust him.
Pulse Asia noted that between April and July, 2010, President Aquino’s overall trust rating rose by +18 percentage points and his overall indecision and distrust ratings declined by –8 and –9 percentage points, respectively.
With regard to President Aquino’s trust ratings across the country’s geographic areas and socio-economic groups, these increased, from 83 to 89 percent and 84 to 88 percent, respectively.
The President got 89 percent in the Visayas, 84 percent in the Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and 83 percent in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Aquino received the highest trust rating among the poorest Class E with 88 percent, followed by upper to middle Classes ABC with 86 percent, and the “masa” or Class D with 84 percent.
Pulse Asia pointed out that President Aquino received double-digit improvements in his trust ratings across geographic areas (+15 to +18 percentage points) and socio-economic classes (+17 to +21 percentage points) between April and July 2010.
Meanwhile, indecision ratings decreased by double-digit margins in the rest of Luzon (-10 percentage points) and Class ABC (-13 percentage points) while distrust ratings drop in Metro Manila (-10 percentage points) and Mindanao (-11 percentage points), as well as Class D (-10 percentage points), during this period.
In the same survey, most Filipinos are aware of presidential appointments to selected government posts with figures ranging from 57 percent for the appointments of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to 82 percent for the appointment of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Soliman.
Among those aware of their respective appointments, at least half approved of all 11 presidential appointees included in the survey.
The highest level of approval (72 percent) was for Soliman’s appointment, followed by the appointment of Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Leila de Lima (69 percent), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo (67 percent), and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Jesus Versoza (67 percent).
Meanwhile, near to small majorities approve of the appointments of Gazmin (50 percent), Deles (51 percent), Department of Finance (DoF) Secretary Cesar Purisima (55 percent), Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa (55 percent), Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro (58 percent), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad (62 percent), and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Ric David (64 percent).
Meanwhile, 22 to 36 percent of those aware of these selected presidential appointments cannot say if they approve or disapprove of Presidential Aquino’s choice for these government positions.
According to 36 percent of Filipinos, providing jobs to the people should be the first order of business for the Aquino administration in its first six months in office.
This is a concern cited by pluralities in the Visayas (33 percent), Metro Manila (35 percent), and the rest of Luzon (43 percent), as well as in Classes D and E (35 to 38 percent).
Meanwhile, 22 percent of Filipinos said the new administration should prioritize price control, a plurality issued among Mindanaoans (32 percent).
Furthermore, addressing the problem of corruption is considered a priority task by 13 percent of Filipinos.
Pulse Asia said these three issues were cited by almost the same percentages of those in Classes ABC – jobs (22 percent), price control (22 percent), and corruption (22 percent).
The other issues are mentioned by less than one in 10 Filipinos, such as education, workers’ wages, agriculture, peace, housing, and livelihood.
Meanwhile, most Filipinos (85 percent) considered it of utmost importance for the new administration to implement measures to control the spiraling cost of goods and services.
Big majorities also deemed it very important for the Aquino administration to not only make new pro-poor programs but also find ways to finance these (75 percent), as well as to create new jobs for Filipinos (73 percent). (Courtesy of The Manila Bulletin, thru FilAmNation.com)
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