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Column for Philippine Daily Inquirer PDI 11-04, 27 Jan 2011 [for publication on 29 Jan 2011]

Survey tracking of governance

Mahar Mangahas

The general Quality of Life, taken in the round, includes the quality of governance. Thus each quarterly Social Weather Survey includes ratings of the people’s satisfaction with government performance. In a democracy, the opinions of citizens at large, whether or not in consonance with experts, are meaningful both to those who govern, presently and potentially, and to those who are governed.

The SWS governance ratings cover the most important officials and institutions, and the performance of the government on specific public issues.

On December 13, 2010, SWS reported that the net satisfaction rating (percent satisfied minus percent dissatisfied) of President Noynoy Aquino had risen to +64 in the Fourth Quarter from +60 in the Third Quarter, of 2010. Both ratings are “very good”, which is our term for net figures of +50 to +69. We pointed out that former Presidents Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph “Erap” Estrada had also posted very good ratings in their honeymoon periods – which in FVR’s case lasted as long as two years. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had no honeymoon, either in 2001 or 2004.

Last Tuesday, SWS reported, through BusinessWorld, on the performance of the Vice-President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the cabinet as a collective.

Vice-President Jejomar Binay’s initial net satisfaction ratings are also very good, at +57 in the Fourth Quarter and +58 in the Third Quarter. These are above the ratings of former VPs Noli de Castro and Teofisto Guingona, but below those of Erap and GMA in their honeymoons as Vice-President. VP de Castro’s scores were mostly “good”, meaning between +30 to +49, while VP Guingona’s scores were mostly “moderate”, meaning between +10 and +29.

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Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s net rating was +34 in the Fourth Quarter, down from +39 in the Third Quarter and +41 in the Second Quarter (in GMA’s time), which are nonetheless all “good”. However, his predecessor Manny Villar was more popular, with five “very goods” and four “goods” in nine quarters as Senate President.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte’s net +7 in the Fourth Quarter and +9 in the Third Quarter are called “neutral”, our term for net ratings of -9 to +9, because single-digit nets are statistically too small to deserve a favorable term if positive, or an unfavorable term if negative. Speaker Belmonte’s popularity, though modest, is far above that of his predecessor Prospero Nograles, whose scores were “poor” (our term for ratings of -10 to -29) all throughout his ten quarters as Speaker.

Chief Justice scored -7 in the Fourth Quarter and -5 in the Third Quarter, both neutral, but an improvement from his poor -18 in the Second Quarter of 2010 -- the record-low for Chief Justices ever since . His immediate predecessors and both had neutral scores during their terms.

As an institution, the Senate scored two successive record-highs of a good +48 in the Third Quarter and a very good +51 in the Fourth Quarter of 2010. The previous record in the surveys starting 1988 was +34 in June 1997.

The net rating of the House of Representatives rose from +30 in the Third Quarter to a new record-high of +33 in the Fourth Quarter, with both scores being good; the previous record was +32, in December 1993.

The Supreme Court, as an institution, got good scores of +33 in the Third Quarter and +36 in the Fourth Quarter, higher than all previous scores as far back as September 2001. Public regard for the Supreme Court peaked at +41 in December 2000 (during the Estrada trial) and stayed good at +37 in March 2001 and +33 in July 2001.

The net rating of the cabinet as a collective body was +22 in the Third Quarter and +20 in the Fourth Quarter, both moderate, but better than during all of GMA’s time, when it was as low as a poor -10.

I would note: (1) Evidently, popular feelings towards the President and the cabinet, the Senate and the Senate President, the House and the Speaker, and the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice are separate and distinct. (2)

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Historically, the low points in public satisfaction with the President, the Speaker, and the Chief Justice all occurred during the Arroyo period.

SWS asks survey respondents to rate government officials and institutions, without having to justify their answers. Our motto, quot hominess tot sententiae (“as many opinions as there are people”), obliges us to respect and report all shades of opinion.

Those with explanations and expectations for the performance ratings should not attribute their analysis to SWS. For instance, the abs- cbnNEWS.com report, “Net satisfaction with Supreme Court higher: SWS”, posted on 1/25/11, has the following sentences which were not in the SWS media release: “Conducted last November 27-30, 2010, the survey was done weeks after the high tribunal granted a petition for a writ of kalikasan stopping First Philippine Industrial Corporation (FPIC) from operating an [sic] 117-kilometer oil pipeline from to the Pandacan oil depot.”

The abs-cbnNEWS report continued: “It was also conducted before the SC declared as unconstitutional President Benigno Aquino’s Executive Order 1 creating a Truth Commission that will investigate corruption cases during the 9-year term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” Then why did it not add that the survey was done before the Supreme Court decided to acquit Hubert Webb?

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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or [email protected].

M. Mangahas, Social Climate, PDI 11-04 Jan 29 – Survey tracking of governance