The slip to 75 percent trust rating of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III should not be any cause for the administration’s political weathermen to ring the alarm bells. Neither the 74 percent performance rating should give sleepless nights to P-Noy men at Malacañang Palace. The results of the latest trust and approval ratings, which Pulse Asia released last week, should also not be any reason to alter the difficult route ahead for Mr. Aquino.
The Pulse Asia survey simply validated that P-Noy, who had vowed to pursue the narrow and straight path, is on the right track on his anti-corruption platform of government.
The Pulse Asia itself said this quarter’s results do not basically reflect any significant change on the approval rating of the President. In fact, he could boast the fact he had the highest trust rating among Presidents of the country from the time opinion surveys became a fashionable barometer of popular people’s acceptance and gauge of public satisfaction of performance in office.
However, it still must be said there was indeed a notable degree of decline from his 80 percent trust rating in October 2010. Also, the same degree of drop from the 79 percent for approval rating compared to the last survey period.
There were a slew of issues that cropped up from October 2010 to March 2011 that would influence public opinion, especially the high-profile ones that came out in mass media.
These issues, or how the President worked on brinkmanship, were reflected on the subjective ratings that people gave in their answers to survey questions.
If anything, the survey results should please neutral observers who would note that President Aquino got majority rating for issues like graft and corruption at 56 percent, fighting criminality at 54 percent, and improving the peace and order situation at 53 percent.
These are key governance issues in which previous administrations did not fare as well within a year of their tenure.
The Aquino administration was proven strong on enforcing the law equally at 49 percent, protecting the environment at 48 percent, and creating jobs at 48 percent.
In fact, P-Noy is extremely lucky since the anti-administration attacks leveled against him apparently did not sway majority of the survey respondents. Or, these attacks simply did not matter to the survey respondents into thumbing down the performance of our country’s first bachelor President in his first nine months in office.
Curiously, the better performance on law enforcement should be a feather to the cap of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo who is supposed to be the immediate supervisor of the Philippine National Police. At the outset of this administration, Robredo’s powers and functions were marginalized by an underling who assumed supervision over the PNP. But after that infamous Luneta bus hostage drama fiasco in August last year, Robredo got a vindication of sorts.
Being a former mayor himself, Robredo has focused on local government units (LGUs) and has been promoting a new civic culture among public servants.His mettle could be tested further if he finally gets the chance to take over the police, which is the most significant element for enforcing the laws in 42,000 barangays nationwide.
On a similar boat is Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje. While he is supposed to be the DENR Secretary, somebody else who is being bandied about as closer adviser to President Aquino will head this Department soon.
Unaffected by political talks, Paje quietly and behind the glare of fanfare strongly pushed and moved forward the environment-friendly reforms of this administration from the total log ban on natural forests to imposing moratorium of new applications and cleansing of existing mining permits. These reforms were instituted by Paje serving as the lightning rod that absorbed much of the flaks away from P-Noy. Paje is currently enforcing his command that the nation be richer by 1.5 billion trees in 2016 under Executive Order 26.
Strangely, Robredo and Paje were appointed by P-Noy in “acting” capacity. As such, their names were not submitted for confirmation to the Commission on Appointments (CA), the bicameral congressional body that pass upon key Cabinet and other presidential appointees.
This early, Robredo and Paje have been subjected to a lot of scuttlebutts, obviously from dark forces lurking at the Palace.
They have not made secret their missions to secure these posts for their protégés who have been waiting in the wings once the one-year ban lapses for those who ran but lost in last year’s May elections to be appointed in public office.
It would be much better if other department secretaries could score majority support in the trust and acceptance divisions of the Pulse Asia survey. Because this would mean they are working hard to comply with the mandate of their respective offices. Apparently, P-Noy is still holding back with his planned mini-Cabinet revamp he announced to be supposedly in the first months of 2011.
Government is not Mr. Aquino alone and the more positive ratings for his Cabinet men, or his so-called "alter-egos," would actually reflect on the kind of management he espouses. Seriously, if these surveys are an indication of popular opinion, then the non-functioning Cabinet officers or the laggards among them should better shape up and take stock of themselves before they reap the whirlwind.
Surely, the President would be sensitive to these surveys. They guide him in retaining the performers and sacking the unfit. With that kind of action, his rating would rise and exceed expectations.
Political weather vanes guide official actions or compel governments to become more sensitive in doing their jobs.
The Pulse Asia survey should lead to succeeding sharper analysis and better questions that would not only inform the respondents but also the public at large that from a universe of issues, only a few deserve attention and serious concern.
Whatever the survey says, popular approval and satisfaction on the presidency of Aquino would largely be influenced by public perception on how his administration governs the nation. But the fact is a rock-solid performance in office and mature governance would serve like a battering ram on contrived issues and media-driven political attacks.