The ultimate crumbling of the PNoy presidency
It is quite sad and unfortunate that a presidency that started with too much hopes, and too much high confidence on the President, is about to end in great disillusionment. The Senate Joint Committee Report, aside from the Board of Inquiry Report was followed by the latest Pulse Asia Report on the plummeting approval and trust ratings of the President Aquino III. This the beginning of the end of this administration. We do not think that, by now, the President can still govern with moral authority. He is a lame duck. He is wounded politically.
Most probably, cabinet resignations will follow after Congressman Walden Belo resigned and cut his ties with Malacañan, declaring that he had entirely lost his trust and confidence on President Aquino. But Malacañan can still recoup, albeit very hardly. The Senate President and the Speaker are still with the President. Most of local government officials are still with the ruling party, but, if we know the culture of Filipino politicians, many of them are planning their disaffiliation from the Liberal Party. They can smell a rat and foresees the sinking of this government's ship. The era of political realignment is just about to start.
The President's national approval and trust rating has plummeted to their lowest levels since 2010 when PNoy entered Malacañan like a knight in shining armor riding a king's horse. From a high of 59% which was his approval rating in November 2014, it is now merely 38%, a very sharp nosedive of 21% in only four months. And we know that his waterloo is Mamasapano. His Achilles' heel is Purisima. And his fall guy is Napeñas. But the people know better than what Malacañan thought they would. The disapproval rating of only 11% in November is now 23%. This is very alarming, more devastating than the power crisis.
The President's approval rating of 49% in the National Capital Region has gone down to 26%. The biggest drop in the President's approval and trust rating was in our region in the Visayas, from 68% to 41% or a whopping collapse of 27%. In Mindanao, the drop was from 67% to 45% or a decline of 22%. Luzon also gave the President a sharp decline from 54% to 36% or 18%. This is supposed to be his bailiwick. But it seems all the cookies are crumbling from all directions.
In economic status, the elite or the Classes A, B, and C gave the President a strong thumbs down, from 59% in November 2014 to only 35% in March 2015, or a very alarming drop 24%. Even the Class E, where the beneficiaries of the administration's conditional Cash Transfer Program belong, gave the President a ten-point drop, from 57% to 47%. All these are indications of an impending domino effect of mass exodus to a new leader or group of leaders like Binay (who still remains number one, despite all the demolitions), Poe, Duterte, Estrada, and Cayetano. Roxas is down like his padrino PNoy.
And so, the end is near. And this is how the cookie crumbles. It takes only one major debacle to unmake a very popular President. The presidency that started with a bang will end in a tragic sob. Sad. Very sad.
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