MANILA, Philippines - The ongoing Senate hearing will have little effect on Vice President Jejomar Binay’s ratings, which apparently have already reached their lowest level since lawmakers began investigating various corruption allegations against him last month, a political think tank said yesterday.
Binay topped a recent presidential survey conducted by Novo Trends PH, getting the support of 29.3 percent of 1,600 voters in Metro Manila.
The survey was conducted from Oct. 24 to 25 at the height of the Senate inquiry into the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II.
Political analyst Ramon Casiple, one of the founders of Novo Trends PH, said the Vice President’s ratings have already hit rock bottom.
“The Senate committee hearing is losing its political impact,” Casiple said.
“Until the last week of October, the ratings of Binay have not changed significantly,” he said.
Casiple said he expects the Senate probe to have little impact on Binay’s ratings in surveys until the end of the year.
“If they (senators) will continue to reveal similar allegations against Binay, it will not significantly affect his ratings. Unless they will reveal something significant,” he said.
Casiple said he thinks Filipinos have accepted the fact that politicians are corrupt so they look for those who have a performance track record.
Binay’s approval rating dropped by 10 points to 66 percent in the third quarter survey of Pulse Asia.
Meanwhile, in the Novo Trends PH’s survey on presidential preference for 2016, President Aquino and Sen. Grace Poe were ranked second and third with 13.1 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively.
The President has already ended speculations that he would seek a second term.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago ranked fourth with 7.9 percent.
Occupying the fifth to ninth slots are Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (5.1 percent); Francis Escudero (4.6 percent); Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (3.4 percent); Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II (3.4 percent); and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (3.4 percent).
Former senator Manuel Villar was in 10th place with 2.1 percent.
On the scheduled debate between Binay and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Nov. 27, Casiple said Trillanes would benefit from it.
“It is a plus factor not for the VP but for Trillanes because he is not as popular as the Vice President,” Casiple said.
He said the debate is not the proper forum for the Vice President to answer the allegations against him, but the anti-graft court.