PULSE ASIA SURVEY: 7 OF 10 PINOYS DISTRUST GMA
MANILA, FEBRUARY 25, 2010 (STAR) Nearly seven in 10 Filipino adults continue to distrust President Arroyo despite her charm offensive, according to the latest survey released by Pulse Asia yesterday.Pulse Asia’s January 2010 Pre-Election Survey, conducted from Jan. 22 to 26, found 68 percent of Filipinos distrust Mrs. Arroyo while only about one in 10 or 11 percent trust her.
The figure of 68 percent of respondents who said they distrusted Mrs. Arroyo is the highest since she took over from deposed President Joseph Estrada in 2001, Pulse Asia said in releasing the results of its survey.
The results came a day after the Supreme Court (SC) cleared Mrs. Arroyo to run for a seat in Congress in the May national elections, in a move many believe is aimed at trying to remain in power.
Arroyo is required by the Constitution to step down as president this year.
Critics believe Arroyo intends to become a congresswoman as a step towards having the Constitution rewritten to shift the nation’s form of government from presidential to parliamentary.
She would then seek to become the nation’s first prime minister, her critics allege.
Meanwhile, two in 10 Filipinos (20 percent) cannot say if they trust or distrust the President, Pulse Asia said.
Pulse Asia said the President’s current overall trust rating is the same as that recorded in December 2009 and the lowest she has attained since March 2001.
The latest survey showed that the President scored majority distrust ratings in every geographic area (i.e., including sub-regions) and socio-economic class ranging from 54 percent in Eastern Visayas to 82 percent in Western Visayas.
GMA scores high among Eastern Visayans
On the other hand, Eastern Visayans (17 percent), residents of Northern/Central Luzon (18 percent), and Central Visayans (23 percent) granted the President her highest trust ratings, Pulse Asia said.
It said single-digit trust scores were registered in Mindanao, particularly in all areas in Mindanao except Region 11 (five to seven percent), Metro Manila (seven percent), Southern Luzon (seven percent), Western Visayas (eight percent), and Class ABC (nine percent).
Public ambivalence as regards the trustworthiness of Mrs. Arroyo is most pronounced among those in Northern/Central Luzon (26 percent), Eastern Visayas (27 percent), and residents of Region 10 and CARAGA (33 percent) while it is least manifest in Western Visayas (nine percent), Region 11 (13 percent), and Metro Manila (15 percent).
Pulse Asia said Filipinos’ assessment of the trustworthiness of the President hardly changed between December 2009 and January 2010 - at the national level and across geographic areas and socioeconomic groupings.
It said the only notable changes during this period are recorded in the Visayas where there is a 10-percentage drop in indecision level and an eight-percentage point increase in Mrs. Arroyo’s distrust rating.
The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 representative adults 18 years old and above.
Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey has a plus or minus two percentage points error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
Meanwhile, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo yesterday advised parties who have been working for the disqualification of President Arroyo from the May 10 polls to give up.
In a press briefing, Melo said that critics of Mrs. Arroyo should concentrate on getting more of their allies to win in the coming polls.
“Those who are against that should just simply, at this point, see to it that they elect more of their party mates so that they will be the ones who will have the speakership. It will have to be a political fight, not a legal fight,” he noted. - Helen Flores , Christina Mendez, Aurea Calica, Sheila Crisostomo
Party-list representatives: Mikey, Reyes By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) Updated February 25, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - They may not be candidates in the May 10 elections, but presidential son Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes may end up in the House of Representatives anyway.
The two are reportedly the nominees of two party-list groups running in the upcoming polls.
The militant transport group Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) yesterday slammed the public transport party-list group United Transport Koalisyon (1-UTAK) for naming Energy Secretary Reyes as its first nominee.
Piston secretary-general George San Mateo said they have information that incumbent 1-UTAK Rep. Vigor Mendoza is sliding down to second nominee to give way to Reyes.
Homer Mercado, president of the Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines, is the group’s third nominee.
San Mateo claimed he got this information from an official of 1-UTAK who is a supporter of Piston.
San Mateo dared Mendoza to reveal the complete list of the group’s nominees submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
San Mateo said Piston had opposed the naming of Reyes, if not of Mendoza himself, as nominees, since they were not from the ranks of the thousands of public transport operators and drivers.
“Again, we from Piston will oppose any move to put Reyes as a nominee of 1-UTAK,” San Mateo stressed.
San Mateo added Reyes and Mendoza, the incumbent representative, have no right to represent the transport sector, accusing them of being the “lapdogs of the Big 3 oil cartel.”
“And both of them have not been members of any legitimate transport association whether from bus, jeep, taxi or tricycle associations,” he said.
Mendoza, for his part, admitted Reyes was being considered as a nominee by 1-UTAK, but stressed the selection is not yet final.
“1-UTAK has not yet selected their nominees. We’re still undergoing a selection process. But definitely, Secretary Reyes is being considered by the group as a nominee considering his contributions to the transport sector,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza said the choice of Reyes as a nominee is allowed by law.
“We will select our nominee based on the guidelines of the Supreme Court on who can be our nominees, and it does not prohibit us from naming Secretary Reyes,” Mendoza said.
Mikey, too
Presidential son Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo has been named as the first nominee of the party-list Ang Galing Party (AGP).
Bacolor town Mayor Buddy Dungca revealed Arroyo has been nominated along with outgoing Lubao town Mayor Dennis Pineda.
Dungca said the AGP would represent underprivileged multi-sectoral groups like transport drivers and security guards, among others.
Arroyo will seek party-list representation since his mother, President Arroyo, is running for Congress to replace him as representative of Pampanga’s second congressional district.
Mrs. Arroyo is expected to win in the congressional race and prospects of her son Mikey making it as party-list representative are also bright, paving the way for a House of Representatives with five Arroyos. The others are reelectionist presidential brother-in-law Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, her other son Rep. Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo for whom a new district was created in Camarines Sur, and sister-in-law Kasangga party list Rep. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo.
Mikey earlier admitted that some party-list groups had been inviting him to represent them in the next Congress.
Mikey and Pineda were not available for comment but Dungca revealed the two are scheduled to hit the campaign trail for the AGP.
“As a matter of fact, we are scheduled to go to Mindanao for this on March 10,” Dungca said.
The Comelec has given the 144 party-list organizations it approved for the May elections up to March 26 to submit the names of their top three nominees and two additional representatives.
After five days, the Comelec will publish the list in three newspapers to inform the public of the sector representatives.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the poll body is “mandated by law to screen the list of nominees and ensure that they are a member of the sector being represented.”
Sarmiento said the AGP would have to prove that their nominees, including Rep. Arroyo, are qualified and eligible to represent the party-list group in Congress. -With Ding Cervantes
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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