The extensive questionnaires of both the Feb. 15-17 and the April 13-15 SWS national surveys of registered voters included items on a) religious affiliation, b) frequency of church attendance, and c) voting preferences for senatorial candidates in the next elections.
The truthfulness and reliability of the most recent survey results on the public approval and trust ratings of President Aquino have to be put into question. It is pretty doubtful that P-Noy has maintained good ratings in spite of an ongoing standoff in Sabah, which many believe P-Noy has been mishandling. That’s on top of the many other crises that the country is stumbling upon one after the other.
Last week, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported to the public that the conditional cash transfer program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps) is “on track to achieve its objectives of promoting investments in the health and education of children while providing immediate financial support to poor families.”
This week’s economic news with the greatest meaning for the Filipino people was the SWS report that Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger fell to 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter, from 21.0 percent in the third quarter (“Fewer families go hungry,” BusinessWorld, 1/07/2013).
My last piece, “The popularity of legalizing divorce,” (Inquirer, 12/22/2012) showed that national sentiments on allowing legal divorce and remarriage for spouses already separated and irreconcilable had shifted from an even division in 2005 to favoring it in 2011 by a score of 50-33. It was not about facilitating escapes of those with troubled but nominally intact marriages, but about giving another chance for those with marriages already broken.
THIS WEEK SWS completed a road show on its 2012 Survey of Enterprises. The initial presentations in Makati City on Sept. 18 and 19 (see “Tracking sincerity against corruption” and “Tracking private sector integrity,” Inquirer, 9/22/12 and 9/29/12, respectively) were followed by sessions in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Angeles, and Tagaytay, over Oct. 24 to Nov. 26.
In its 2007/08 Survey on Religion for the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), Social Weather Stations found 40 percent of Filipino adults calling their personal attitudes toward Muslims either very or somewhat positive, compared to 32 percent of them calling their personal attitudes toward Muslims either very or somewhat negative. Another 22 percent called their attitudes neither positive nor negative; a few could not or would not answer.
The open reporting of surveys on the status of governance and national wellbeing, which Filipinos freely enjoy today, builds on research that was done during martial law, but was ultimately prevented by its regime from being operated for general public benefit.
Not only President Noynoy Aquino but also other top officials achieved new personal bests in public satisfaction in the third quarter 2012
Last Monday’s BusinessWorld (BW) headline “Ratings low for Aquino” was accurate, in the sense that President Noynoy Aquino’s new net satisfaction rating of +42, based on 63 percent satisfied and 21 percent dissatisfied with his performance, in the Social Weather Survey of May 24-27, 2012, happened to be his lowest since he took office.
Last Wednesday, BusinessWorld’s top story “Optimism dips but still ‘high’” was based on the first quarter 2012 Social Weather Survey release “Net personal optimism at +28; net economic optimism +6.”
Renato Corona, through his lawyer, Ramon Esguerra, replied to Conchita Carpio Morales’ demand for him to explain his $10 million in the banks thus: “(1) I do not own $10 million. It simply does not exist. (2) It’s part of the black propaganda and mind-conditioning preparatory to the resumption of trial on May 7. (3) (It’s) no different from the phony Land Registration Authority list, phony US property list, phony surveys, phony Inquirer letters to the editor, etc. (4) The Ombudsman has no jurisdiction over the Chief Justice.
