Filtered By: Topstories
News

SONA 2008: Surveys say


PUBLIC PERCEPTION ON SONA
Pulse Asia July 2008 Ulat ng Bayan Survey

Note: Pulse Asia started monitoring the public’s sense of SONAs in 2005.

  • Truthfulness (2008 SONA)
    • 46% are unable to anticipate whether it is going to be truthful or not
    • 40% expect it to be untruthful, from 29% last year
    • 14% believe Arroyo's coming SONA will be truthful
       
  • Truthfulness (past SONAs)
    • 46% of those who are aware of Arroyo's past SONAs believe her past SONAs had not been truthful
    • 41% are undecided
    • 13% see truthfulness as characteristic of her past SONAs, from 16% last year
       
  • Public awareness
    • 6 out of 10 Filipinos say they have heard or read about Arroyo’s previous SONAs
    • From July 2005 to July 2008, public awareness for her SONAs remained fairly constant at around 60% nationwide

PRESIDENTS' SATISFACTION RATINGS

  • Arroyo received a net satisfaction rating of -38 in the July 2008 SWS survey -- a new record-low for Presidents since 1986
    • Arroyo broke her own previous record of -33 in May 2005
    • Arroyo last received a positive net satisfaction rating in August 2004, when she got +12
    • The highest rating she received was +30 in March 2004 during the campaign for the May 2004 presidential elections
       
  • Arroyo is the only post-EDSA president who received negative satisfaction ratings. Her highest rating, a +30, is relatively low compared with that of other Presidents.
    • Former President Corazon Aquino's highest rating was +72, which she received on October 1986, while her lowest was +7 on November 1990 and near the end of her term in April 1992.
    • Former President Fidel Ramos received his highest rating of +69 on July 1993. He got his lowest rating of +1 in October 1995.
    • Ousted President Joseph Estrada's highest was +67 on March 1999; his lowest was +5 on December 1999 and March 2000.

“MOST CORRUPT" PRESIDENT
Pulse Asia October 2007 survey

  • 42% of Filipinos consider Arroyo as the “most corrupt" President since the Marcos administration.
  • Ferdinand Marcos placed only second to Arroyo with 35%; Joseph Estrada was third with 16%, followed by Fidel Ramos with 5%.
  • Aquino was perceived as the least corrupt with only 1% of respondents thinking that she engaged in shady deals during her term.

PERFORMANCE AND TRUST RATINGS OF ARROYO
Pulse Asia March 2008 survey

  • 51% disapproved of Arroyo's performance
  • 23% were in approval
  • 26% were undecided
  • 57% had small or no trust for the President
  • 19% had big trust for her
  • 23% were undecided

NET SATISFACTION RATINGS OF OTHER OFFICIALS
First Quarter 2008 SWS Survey

  • Vice President Noli de Castro +47
  • Senate President Manuel Villar +53
  • Chief Justice Reynato Puno +2
  • House Speaker Prospero Nograles -12

CORRUPTION PERCEPTION

  • Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perception Index ranked the Philippines 131st out of 179 countries. The country’s score since 2005 has been 2.5, the lowest since 1995.
     
  • Note: TI ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. A country's score, which ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt), relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts.

HUNGER
SWS June 2008 survey

  • 16.3% (estimated 2.9 million families) of households reported that their families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months
  • The current hunger rate is four points above the 10-year average hunger rate of 12.1%
  • The figure increased from 15.7% in March 2008
  • Record-high figure was 21.5% in September 2007

CREDIT RATINGS

  • Fitch
    Citing the country's relatively strong external position, Fitch Ratings on June 27, 2008 affirmed its Philippine ratings, with the outlook remaining "stable". It, however, described public finances as still "fundamentally weak", and urged the government to boost its revenues given mounting spending pressures.
     
  • Moody's Investment Ratings
    On January 25, 2008, Moody's Investor Service upgraded its credit rating outlook on the Philippines to positive from stable. It cited improvements in public sector finances and a reduced dependence on funding from abroad.
     
  • Standard and Poor's
    On September 14, 2007, Standard & Poor's maintained its stable outlook on the country's sovereign debt ratings. The country's "local and foreign currency funding and rollover risks remain manageable in the wake of global financial market turbulence and consequent tightening liquidity conditions," said Agost Benard, a Standard and Poor's credit analyst.
Tags: sona,, sona2008
LOADING CONTENT