SWS: 4 of 10 Pinoys see improved lives in first year of Aquino admin

Four in 10 Filipinos are optimistic that their lives will improve in the first year of the Aquino administration, according to a latest survey by the Social Weather Station (SWS). The June 25-28 survey on 1,200 respondents showed that 41 percent expected their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months, a new record high since 1987, as against 5 percent who expected it to worsen. At +36, the net personal optimism score is considered “very high," surpassing the previous record of +35 in March 1987, or during the incumbency of the late President Corazon Aquino, mother of current President Benigno Aquino III, SWS said. The latest score is also 10 points more than the +26 in March 2010. Net personal optimism rose by 15 points in Luzon (from +28 to +43), by 8 points in Metro Manila (from +36 to +44), by 5 points in the Visayas (from +22 to +27), and by 5 points in Mindanao (from +21 to +26). By class, it rose by 16 points in the elite Class ABC (from +32 in March to +48), by 10 points in the masa Class D (from +26 to +36), and by 6 points in the poor Class E (from +26 to +32). The survey was conducted before Aquino was proclaimed as president in June 30, and before the Philippines got a bashing in the international community due to the death of eight Hong Kong tourists in a hostage crisis last Aug. 23. Aquino started his presidency with an 88 percent gross trust rating and +83 net trust rating. - KBK, GMANews.TV