Sunday, July 27, 2008 Pampanga, Tarlac PBs back Arroyo
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Pampanga and Tarlac provincial boards (PBs) have agreed to sign a joint resolution to express their unwavering support to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The two legislative bodies met in a joint session for the first time here last Friday to unanimously support the motion of Tarlac Board Member Carlito David expressing support for the President.
This developed after the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey last week showed a plunging of the public's support for the President.
The SWS said this indicated that Arroyo is the most unpopular leader in the country since democracy was restored in 1986.
The two PBs, however, had different opinion regarding the survey.
Pampanga Board Member Tars Halili said the survey is "unfair" on the part of the President because she has many accomplishments in her term.
"She has done a lot in this province, and I believe that that survey does not speak for the rest of Filipinos in the provinces," Halili said.
He added that "popularity" alone does not speak for governance and the accomplishments of Arroyo. He said the "Manila centric" surveys would not fare much with the popularity of Arroyo in the provinces.
According to David, the surveys were "unfair" and that the voice of the provinces should also be heard.
"We do not believe in these surveys," he said.
The SWS found in a poll conducted on the last week of June that only 22 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the President's performance while 60 percent were dissatisfied with her.
President Arroyo's record-low ratings reached across all regions and socioeconomic classes.
Filipinos belonging to the upper-to-middle class ABC were said to be "just as dissatisfied now" as the "masa" or Class D people.
But the two PBs said the President needs more support now than ever before because of her accomplishments in the provinces of Tarlac and Pampanga.
One of these projects is Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) that would efficiently connect both provinces.
"With SCTEx we are now the ones that would benefit from the developments and benefits of a Central Luzon Corridor, for me that do not make President Arroyo unpopular," Halili said. (IOF)
