MANILA, Philippines – Among the top five national government officials, only Vice President Jejomar Binay enjoyed a significant improvement in approval and trust ratings in the last quarter of 2015, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.
In the Dec. 4-11 survey of Pulse Asia, Binay obtained an approval rating of 52 percent, up by nine points from 43 percent in September.
President Aquino received an approval rating of 55 percent, slightly higher than his 54 percent rating three months earlier.
Senate President Franklin Drilon also gained a point in his approval score, from 50 percent to 51 percent.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s approval rating stayed at 29 percent.
Only Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. suffered a decline in his approval rating, at 29 percent from 32 percent previously.
Aquino posted majority approval ratings across geographic areas and socioeconomic classes: 68 percent in the Visayas, 62 percent in Mindanao and 52 percent and 67 percent in Classes D and E, respectively.
Approval for the President’s performance was also high in the rest of Luzon at 50 percent and at 42 percent in Metro Manila. Nearly the same approval figures are recorded by Aquino in the Classes A, B and C at 44 percent.
At the national level, only Binay posted changes in his overall ratings: a nine-percentage point increase in his approval score and a six-point decline in his indecision figure.
Across geographic areas, the Vice President enjoyed gains in his approval rating in the rest of Luzon (+8 percentage points) and the Visayas (+13 percentage points).
In Class E, Binay registered an increase in his approval score (+20 percentage points) and a decrease in his indecision and disapproval ratings (both at -10 percentage points).
The only other official who experienced a movement in his performance ratings in these sub-groupings is Belmonte, whose indecision figure went up in the Visayas (+14 percentage points).
More Filipinos have expressed trust in the Vice President in the last quarter of 2015, from 39 percent in September to 49 percent in December.
Aquino also experienced a four-point gain in his trust score from 40 percent to 53 percent.
“Only Aquino enjoyed the trust of most Filipinos in December,” according to Pulse Asia.
Drilon’s trust rating stayed at 47 percent, while those of Belmonte and Sereno dropped by five points and one point to 24 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
In the different geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, Aquino enjoyed an improvement in his trust rating in Class E (+10 percentage points) while Binay registered gains in his trust scores in the rest of Luzon (+10 percentage points), the Visayas (+12 percentage points), Class D (+6 percentage points) and Class E (+18 percentage points).
The only majority trust rating of Drilon is given by the Visayans (57 percent). Drilon hails from Iloilo province.
Between September and December 2015, Binay’s overall trust rating rose 10 points while his indecision figure declined by six points.
Conversely, trust in the Speaker eased during this period (-5 percentage points) while ambivalence on the matter became more manifest (+5 percentage points)
The national ratings of other national government officials remained constant at this time. – With Delon Porcalla