7 of 10 Pinoys distrust GMA - Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines - Nearly seven in 10 Filipino adults continue to distrust President Arroyo despite her charm offensive, according to the latest survey released by Pulse Asia yesterday.

Pulse Asia’s January 2010 Pre-Election Survey, conducted from Jan. 22 to 26, found 68 percent of Filipinos distrust Mrs. Arroyo while only about one in 10 or 11 percent trust her.

The figure of 68 percent of respondents who said they distrusted Mrs. Arroyo is the highest since she took over from deposed President Joseph Estrada in 2001, Pulse Asia said in releasing the results of its survey.

The results came a day after the Supreme Court (SC) cleared Mrs. Arroyo to run for a seat in Congress in the May national elections, in a move many believe is aimed at trying to remain in power.

Arroyo is required by the Constitution to step down as president this year.

Critics believe Arroyo intends to become a congresswoman as a step towards having the Constitution rewritten to shift the nation’s form of government from presidential to parliamentary.

She would then seek to become the nation’s first prime minister, her critics allege.

Meanwhile, two in 10 Filipinos (20 percent) cannot say if they trust or distrust the President, Pulse Asia said.

Pulse Asia said the President’s current overall trust rating is the same as that recorded in December 2009 and the lowest she has attained since March 2001.

The latest survey showed that the President scored majority distrust ratings in every geographic area (i.e., including sub-regions) and socio-economic class ranging from 54 percent in Eastern Visayas to 82 percent in Western Visayas.

GMA scores high among Eastern Visayans

On the other hand, Eastern Visayans (17 percent), residents of Northern/Central Luzon (18 percent), and Central Visayans (23 percent) granted the President her highest trust ratings, Pulse Asia said.

It said single-digit trust scores were registered in Mindanao, particularly in all areas in Mindanao except Region 11 (five to seven percent), Metro Manila (seven percent), Southern Luzon (seven percent), Western Visayas (eight percent), and Class ABC (nine percent).

Public ambivalence as regards the trustworthiness of Mrs. Arroyo is most pronounced among those in Northern/Central Luzon (26 percent), Eastern Visayas (27 percent), and residents of Region 10 and CARAGA (33 percent) while it is least manifest in Western Visayas (nine percent), Region 11 (13 percent), and Metro Manila (15 percent).

Pulse Asia said Filipinos’ assessment of the trustworthiness of the President hardly changed between December 2009 and January 2010 - at the national level and across geographic areas and socioeconomic groupings.

It said the only notable changes during this period are recorded in the Visayas where there is a 10-percentage drop in indecision level and an eight-percentage point increase in Mrs. Arroyo’s distrust rating.

The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 representative adults 18 years old and above.

Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey has a plus or minus two percentage points error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Meanwhile, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo yesterday advised parties who have been working for the disqualification of President Arroyo from the May 10 polls to give up.

In a press briefing, Melo said that critics of Mrs. Arroyo should concentrate on getting more of their allies to win in the coming polls.

“Those who are against that should just simply, at this point, see to it that they elect more of their party mates so that they will be the ones who will have the speakership. It will have to be a political fight, not a legal fight,” he noted. - Helen Flores, Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica, Sheila Crisostomo