PNoy's big ratings drop: Senators blame DAP, high prices of goods

MANILA, Philippines - Senators on Monday blamed the public mistrust rate against President Aquino to the controversy on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds and the massive increase in the prices of basic commodities.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, however, expressed belief that the President can still recover from the dropping ratings.

“The spike in prices of rice and garlic coincided with the Supreme Court decision on the DAP, leading to criticism from several quarters,” Angara said.

“But like I always say ratings go up and down. I'm quite certain the President’s ratings will go up again at some point in the future,” he said.

Angara urged the administration to intensify the “government programs and initiatives in the remainder of his term would certainly help particularly job creating programs all over the country.”

Senator Sergio Osmeña III also expressed belief that the President’s ratings were affected by the DAP and the high prices of food. “In the first instance, his credibility was affected."

“In the second instance, the people’s pockets were affected,” Osmeña said, noting how the spiraling prices of rice and garlic had caused public outrage.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, meanwhile, said that the confluence of recent events affected Aquino’s trust ratings, ranging from the DAP, pork barrel and the increase in the prices of commodities coupled with the low salaries of workers.

“Naghalo na siguro ang mga dahilan. Ano pa man, kailangan na nilang ayusin ang pagpatakbo ng ating bansa para maibsan ang kahirapan,” Trillanes said.

Sen. Juan Victor Ejercito also sees the DAP controversy as a major issue in the drop of Aquino’s ratings in addition to the high prices of commodities.

“PNoy is lucky to have an extended honeymoon period of almost four years. People believed and supported his thrust of good governance, the daang matuwid,” Ejercito said.

“But reality bites. People are now looking for performance. In reality, there was not much jobs created since 2010, poverty incident level has not improved and to make it worst, prices of commodities are going up and services and utilities are deteriorating,” Ejercito said.