Satisfaction with Noy government steady in Q4

MANILA, Philippines - Satisfaction with the Aquino administration hardly moved but remained in “good” territory in the last quarter of 2015 amid criticisms of inefficiencies, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest report.

According to the SWS Dec. 5-8 survey, six in 10 Filipinos or 61 percent are satisfied with the performance of the present administration during the last three months of 2015.

Twenty-three percent of Filipinos were dissatisfied with its work while 16 percent were undecided on the matter.

The administration’s latest scores yielded a net satisfaction rating of 39, up by two points from the “good” 37 registered in September last year.

It was also the highest since the “good” 45 recorded in the March 2014 survey, the SWS noted.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

Satisfaction with the Aquino government rose in all areas except in balance Luzon, the SWS said.

The administration’s net satisfaction jumped 18 points to a “very good” 52 in the Visayas from a “good” 34 last September. It was the highest satisfaction rating of the Aquino government since the “very good” 60 in September 2013.

It went up by 12 points to a “good” 36 in Metro Manila, from a “moderate” 24 in September.

SWS said the government’s latest net satisfaction score in Metro Manila was similar to its September 2014 rating and its highest since March 2014’s 37.

It stayed “good” in Mindanao, improving by two points to 36. This was the highest since December 2014’s 43.

The net satisfaction rating of the government, however, dropped by nine points but remained in good territory in balance Luzon to 35.

In terms of socioeconomic class, satisfaction with the Aquino government hardly moved in Class D to 39 from 38, and E to 44 from 40.

It stayed “moderate” in Class ABC to 23 from 21.

SWS classifies net satisfaction scores of 70 and above as “excellent”; 50 to 69 as “very good”; 30 to 49, “good”; 10 to 29, “moderate”; 9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; as well as -70 and below, “execrable.”

The survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The government scored good in four out of 14 issues, the SWS said. These are on helping the poor, foreign relations, promoting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers and defending the country’s territorial rights.

It received “moderate” grade in restoring peace in Mindanao and “neutral” grade in eight issues – fighting terrorism, rehabilitating areas damaged by conflict in Mindanao, reconciliation with Muslim rebels, fighting crimes, ensuring that no family will ever be hungry, reconciliation with communist rebels, eradication of graft and corruption and fighting inflation.

The government obtained a “very bad” score in resolving with justice the 2009 Maguindanao massacre of media workers and relatives of a local political candidate.

It fell by five points to “neutral” 7 in fighting terrorism and down 16 points to a “neutral” -1 in eradicating graft and corruption.

The administration’s net score also dropped by 10 points to a “very bad” -57 in resolving the Maguindanao massacre case with justice, the SWS said.

Results of the latest SWS poll were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.