Aquino ratings battered in surveys

CANBERRA—The Aquino administration has received a barrage of body blows in surveys conducted in the third quarter of 2014—the twilight of its six-year term.

The latest of these surveys, in all of which the administration’s satisfaction ratings were battered, is the one conducted by the Makati Business Club (MBC) among its members on July 1-25. It showed, among other things, the Office of the President and agencies under the executive branch suffering a huge plunge in their net satisfaction ratings. Business leaders gave 43 of 62 national offices and agencies positive net satisfaction ratings, but the survey results showed that the net performance ratings of 31 national government agencies had declined.

The results of this survey were the most disconcerting among the series of polls conducted in June and July. partly because it was conducted by the MBC, the umbrella organization of the corporate sector which is regarded as friendly to the administration and not as a source of carping criticism from the political opposition and independent sectors of the news media. The survey results pulled the rug out from under the feet of the administration and its claims as a competent economic manager.

The MBC’s thumbs-down survey results revealed and highlighted two important turns of events in the decline of the administration in its last 700 days in office: (1) the depth and breadth of the erosion of President Aquino’s popularity and of public disenchantment with his administration’s performance, and (2) the growing public doubt over his clout and capacity to influence the selection of his successor in 2016, to sustain political reforms and economic growth, and to carry out socioeconomic programs designed to reduce poverty and close the wide gap of incomes between the rich and the poor.

Among the executive-branch offices, the worst decline in net satisfaction was suffered by the Department of Budget and Management in the MBC survey. The DBM was in the center of controversy after the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional first the Priority Development Assistance Fund and later the Disbursement Acceleration Program. It was found out that the PDAF had become a source of kickbacks for legislators, and that the DAP, which Malacañang had claimed to be an “economic stimulus” measure, was funded by “savings” from the budget of government agencies.

The high court’s decision wrought havoc on the performance ratings of both the executive and legislative branches, and cast doubt on the transparency of the administration. At a forum last week, Senate President Franklin Drilon said the controversies involving the PDAF and the DAP were to blame for the steep drop in public satisfaction with the government’s general performance, most of all the executive and legislative branches.

According to the MBC survey of its members, the Senate and the DBM suffered the worst slumps in approval ratings. The Senate fell 48 places from 14th place to 62nd, the bottom, while the DBM dropped 46 notches from fourth to 50th place. Next to the Senate at the bottom was the House of Representatives, which fell to 61st place. The Senate took the full brunt of the fallout from the plunder and graft charges filed by the Ombudsman at the Sandiganbayan against three senators—Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.—in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Also suffering the worst declines in the ratings were the Department of Agriculture (from 18th to 80th), Department of Energy (from 24th to 53rd), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (from 21st to 43rd). The Office of the President fell 22 places from 14th to 36th), while the Office of the Vice President dropped 25 places (from eighth to 33rd).

In another survey, that conducted by the Social Weather Stations in June 27-30, the net satisfaction rating of the administration hit an all-time low—a drop of 16 percentage points from +45 in March to only +29  in June. It was the biggest drop since March 2011. It was also the first time that the administration received a “moderate” net satisfaction rating.

While the administration was taking a beating not only in the MBC but also in the SWS and

Pulse Asia surveys, it received critical marks on poverty eradication from the World Bank.

In a press conference last Thursday, World Bank officials said the Aquino administration has a chance to put the economy on an “irreversible” growth path that would see millions lifted out of poverty if the last two years of its term are used in “pursuing meaningful reforms.”

Rogier van den Brink, World Bank lead economist for the Philippines, said eradicating poverty may be within reach if the government would take advantage of the country’s current stability to push for structural changes to make the economy work for a larger segment of the population.

But while the government is “definitely on the right track,” the World Bank has revised its forecast for Philippine economic growth, taking into account the slowdown in the first quarter of the year. The economy is now seen as growing 6.4 percent this year, lower than the previous forecast of 6.6 percent, Van den Brink said. Next year, economic growth is seen at 6.7 percent, lower than the earlier 6.9-percent projection.

Both forecasts are lower than the administration’s targets for both years, which were set at 6.5 to 7.5 percent in 2014 and 7 to 8 percent in 2015.

Let’s see how the Aquino administration will meet this challenge.