Philippine President's ratings dip but still high
Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III's approval and trust ratings slid but remained at high levels, according to results of a nationwide survey conducted late last month.
Pulse Asia Inc. reported that eight in every 10 Filipino adults approved of Mr. Aquino's performance and had faith in him.
His approval rating last month declined 9 percentage points to 79 percent from that in July, while his trust rating slid 5 percentage points to 80 percent.
Fresh from his trip to Japan, the President said the drop was expected because his administration faced many challenges, including the Aug. 23 hostage fiasco in Manila, since he took over on June 30 from the Arroyo administration.
"Of course, that might have something to do with the Quirino Grandstand issue," Mr. Aquino later told reporters, referring to the hostage crisis that left the hostage-taker and eight Hong Kong tourists dead. "Of course that can't be said when we had the typhoon."
The noncommissioned Pulse Asia survey was conducted from Oct. 20 to 29 using face-to-face interviews. It covered 1,200 respondents across the country and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
To maintain the relatively high rating, his administration must show that it has a direction in governance, Mr. Aquino said.
Penchant for bad news
On the eve of the release of the survey results, Mr. Aquino, while still in Yokohama, Japan, slammed the media for what he said was its emphasis on reporting bad news over good ones in the country.
"It's possible that you don't get all the news about what's happening in the country," he told some 1,000 Filipinos who gathered at the Futuba high school auditorium on Sunday night to hear him speak.
Twisted
Mr. Aquino, who visited Japan to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, said most of the time news items on television, newspapers and online websites were negative and carried twisted opinions.
"What is happening is that in order to get more attention, they tend to scrape tiny scratches," he said.
But he said these tiny scratches that the media were scraping were being felt by Filipinos at home and abroad.
Issues magnified
Because of this penchant for magnifying issues, the good news is not being reported and thus, is not known by the people, especially those based abroad, Mr. Aquino said.
"It's natural for anyone to lose the drive to work if what one gets is all bad news," he said.
He said he was in Japan to tell Filipinos "that your families in the Philippines are in good hands."
Mr. Aquino said he was traveling abroad not to brag, otherwise his late parents - martyred Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino - would surely make him feel their disapproval.
"What we want to achieve is simple: Many goods things are happening in our country. We will not fail Filipinos. We are taking care of our countrymen. You're still my boss. This is the kind of news that you should get," Mr. Aquino said.
Reposted From ANN (Asian News Network)
4 comments:
Let us just all wish and help the president in running the country.
Hi Shy,
Tama yan. Talagang kailangan ni Pres. Noy ang tulong nang lahat nang Pinoy sa pagpapaunlad sa Pilipinas. Thanks for your visit and comments. God bless you all always.
Prayer would also help the President in doing his job.
Hi Rose,
Yes, we should help our President by praying for him. Thanks for your visit and comments. God bless you all always.
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