Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Arroyo approval ratings remain low amid emergency rule: Survey (1:45 p.m.)
MANILA –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s emergency decree aimed at quashing an alleged coup plot last month had little impact on her approval ratings, which remained at their lowest level in five years, an independent survey said Wednesday.
Pollster Pulse Asia said 50 percent of 1,200 respondents said they disapproved of Arroyo in the group's most recent survey, down from 52 percent in October, while 26 percent said they approved of the President, compared to 24 percent in October.
The survey, conducted between February 18 and March 4, has a margin of error of three percentage points, it said.
Arroyo declared emergency rule on February 24 after announcing a coup plot by disgruntled soldiers, communist rebels, and civilian backers.
During the weeklong emergency, the government carried out a series of warrantless arrests targeting critics and left-wing lawmakers, banned rallies, and raided an opposition newspaper.
"Despite the continuing efforts to unseat President Arroyo and the various controversies that still hound her administration as well as policies and programs to win the support of the general public, local government officials, the military and police, the President's overall performance and trust ratings in March 2006 are practically unchanged from the October 2005 levels," Pulse Asia said.
The pollster said Arroyo's ratings "have remained at critically low levels, still lower than of any other Philippine president in the polling history of the country."
Arroyo has dismissed such surveys in the past as irrelevant, often saying her presidency was not a popularity contest. (AP)
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