|
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Over half of Pinoys don't trust Arroyo: survey
MANILA -- Public distrust for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has soared to 53 percent, with 48 percent of Filipinos saying she should no longer continue occupying the country's top post, a June 20-23 survey of Pulse Asia showed.
The survey, which involved 1,200 respondents and was reportedly commissioned by the opposition, was conducted less than a week before Arroyo made her public admission that she talked to a Commission on Elections official during the 2004 election period.
Pulse Asia chief Felipe Miranda said the survey was commissioned by "a principal closely identified with the political opposition" but said it did not compromise the academic integrity of the survey.
Pulse Asia said public trust for Arroyo has plummeted to a record low of 20 percent while distrust was at 53 percent. In Metro Manila, trust for Arroyo was at 17 percent and distrust at 60 percent.
Arroyo also incurred an unprecedented high national disapproval rating of 46 percent, with the erosion in public trust and increased public disapproval cutting across all geographical areas and socioeconomic classes.
A match-up between Arroyo and former President Joseph Estrada showed that 46 percent perceive Estrada to be "more trustworthy" than Arroyo (26 percent).
Miranda said the jueteng and wiretapping controversies have taken their toll on the Arroyo presidency, with 64 percent believing that high government officials are involved in jueteng and 78 percent believing that members of the President's family are involved in the illegal numbers game and benefited from it.
On the wiretapping controversy, 52 percent believed she is the woman that former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was talking to in the wiretapped conversations and that 51 percent believed that she was involved in cheating or manipulating the vote count in last year's presidential polls.
Close to half or 49 percent of respondents believe that Arroyo did not win the 2004 presidential elections, against 22 percent who believe she won. Thirty-two percent of respondents find credible the allegations of vote count manipulation against Arroyo while 44 percent are still undecided.
Close to majority believe that Arroyo should no longer continue as President, with only 26 percent disagreeing.
Only 22 percent think that she should stay in office and serve the rest of her term. A smaller group of 16 percent said she can stay until a parliamentary government is in place but this should be before 2010.
About 22 percent said retaining Arroyo is equally as bad as a coup wherein the military and police will determine who will govern among civilian politicians and where the military and police will directly rule the country.
Close to seven out of 10 (68 percent) are opposed to having martial law with the highest opposition recorded among government workers (77 percent).
More than 50 percent believe there are better leaders who can replace Arroyo. These include Vice President Noli de Castro (30 percent), former
President Estrada (19 percent) and Senator Panfilo Lacson (16 percent).
Those that respondents do not find acceptable as leaders are Arroyo (42 percent), former president Fidel Ramos (39 percent), and evangelist and defeated presidential bet Eduardo "Bro. Eddie" Villanueva (31 percent).
Miranda said the survey results showed that government's bogeyman of not having any alternative to Arroyo has been discarded by the public.
He said the survey reflects "much public disappointment" and a "sharp sense of frustration" with the Arroyo administration and President Arroyo herself.
He said the people believe that their lives deteriorated in the past four years and they anticipate an even bleaker picture if Arroyo continues to lead the country.
Miranda noted, "neither the difficulties of the Marcos dictatorship nor the travails of the post-1997 Asian financial crisis in Ramos' time managed to provoke such a sense of public desperation" as the present.
Poverty remains at near record high levels (71 percent), with food expenses registering the biggest expense and as many as 25 percent of respondents resorting to borrowings to cope with increased prices of commodities.
The Arroyo administration has a record-breaking low of 25 percent approval and 46 percent disapproval or a net approval rating of -21 and that majority of the respondents viewed her administration as inferior to the Estrada administration.
Only seven percent said their quality of life improved under the Arroyo administration compared to the 50 percent who said it worsened and 43 percent who said there was no change. About 57-67 percent of respondents said the Estrada administration did better in controlling inflation, reducing poverty, and fighting graft and corruption.
Respondents also said the Estrada administration did better in terms of economic recovery, reducing government borrowing, restoring the people's trust in government, managing government finances, and even in minimizing jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling.
"Only three other Arroyos with at least 60 percent of the public distrusting them exceed her national distrust level (53 percent) and a controversial former Comelec commissioner (Garcillano) is only marginally lower (50 percent)," the survey said.
It said the depreciation of Arroyo's status has improved people's appreciation for Estrada, with 30 percent of respondents believing that it is right for him to be reinstalled if Arroyo resigns or is ousted.
Barring any legal impediment, another 16 percent want to see him run for President again, most of them coming from Mindanao. Twelve percent said he could be one of the many leaders of the opposition while 10 percent said he should be a transition or temporary president once Arroyo leaves her post and until another president is elected.
Eight percent, most of them coming from the elite, want him to go abroad and stay there permanently. Four percent said he should assume overall leadership of all anti-Arroyo administration.
"These figures suggest that the former president may already have about 40 percent of the public--a truly impressive multitude--ready to consider a leading role for him again in this nation's political drama," Miranda said.
Malacañang tried to downplay the results of the survey with Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, presidential spokesman, scoffing at it and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita dismissing it.
Bunye said surveys "reflect the public's perception, and not necessarily the truth. We are confident that in due time, it will be clear to the public that the President did not cheat and that her family is not involved in jueteng. As to being replaced by Noli, Erap or Lacson, the public must again remember that the president is the duly elected president, and that in the absence of irrefutable proof of wrongdoing, there is no reason for her to be replaced."
Ermita said Arroyo has been having negative ratings but "the presidency is not necessarily a popularity contest because there are so many things the President has to do, some hard decisions, some bitter pills that we call them. These are not necessarily very popular issues so you can imagine that when the pocket is affected, it is very easy to say dahil sa Pangulo (because of the President). Pero (but) there is a higher objective, strategic purpose once we get this legislation passed so we can get enough resources for other projects."
President Arroyo found solace Wednesday in the company of some 5,000 members of Manila's Barangay Consultative Assembly who gathered at the San Andres Sports Complex led by Manila Mayor Jose Atienza Jr.
Arroyo said all her actions are for the good of the Filipinos' future. She also thanked them for their support and said she is counting on them. (JMR/Sunnex)
(July 7, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Findings on kidnap case changed at least 6 times