Senate allies confident Noy trust ratings will recover

MANILA, Philippines - Senators allied with President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday expressed confidence that the chief executive will be able to regain the points he lost in the recent trust ratings surveys conducted by major firms, Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia.

“These are perceptions at the moment. I am sure as we move along in the next several months, they will see how serious the President is in instituting reforms which are not easy,” said Senate President Franklin Drilon in a television interview.

“I am confident the ratings will move back to where it was before,” Drilon added.

Drilon’s colleague at the Liberal Party, Sen. Ralph Recto, said the initial drop in the President’s ratings should not be a cause for major concern.

“The President’s rating is very good at 68 percent. That's two out of three approve of his leadership. That's more than a simple majority,” Recto said.

“You must remember that in 2010 he only got 42 percent of the vote. Three years after, he is doing very well at 68 percent. No need to worry,” Recto added.

Opposition Sen. Juan Victor Ejercito shared the sentiment that the massive corruption on the misuse of the Priority Development and Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) affected Aquino’s ratings.

“Definitely the PDAF scam and DAP issue has affected the satisfaction rating of PNoy. He has to show that he is serious in addressing the scams and probably because of the public outburst, those found guilty will have to be made to face the consequences for him to regain the trust,” Ejercito said.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who belongs to the Senate majority group, said the results of the recent surveys should pose as a challenge to the President to ensure that all of the people responsible in the pork barrel scam are prosecuted.

“I believe so. But he must first clearly explain to the public that he did nothing illegal and that he won’t tolerate those who stole public funds. He must then follow through with concrete steps,” Trillanes said.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III, who believes in surveys, said the President’s ratings remain acceptable, noting that other presidents got negative satisfaction ratings.

Sen. Sonny Angara is also confident Aquino's trust ratings will recover.

“I’m confident the President’s ratings will go up at some point once people realize everything he has done to make sure the people’s money is spent properly,” Angara said.