MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno S. Aquino III's net satisfaction rating, at its lowest just three months ago, has surged to an all-time high of +67, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The survey, conducted August 24-27, had 77 percent of the 1,200 respondents expressing satisfaction with the President's performance in the past three months. Ten percent said they were not satisfied.
This brings the President's rating to a ''very good'' +67.
SWS said the rating is 25 points higher than the +42 (63 percent satisfied, 21 percent dissatisfied) last May.
The results of the survey were first published in the BusinessWorld last Friday.
SWS considers a net satisfaction rating of +70 and higher as ''excellent;'' +50 to +69, ''very good;'' +30 to +49, ''good;'' +10 to +29, ''moderate;'' +9 to -9, ''neutral;'' -10 to -29, ''poor;'' -30 to -49, ''bad;'' -50 to -69, ''very bad;'' and -70 and below, ''execrable.''
SWS attributed the rebound of President Aquino's rating to the improved ratings in all regions, socioeconomic classes and gender.
The President scored a +76 (83 percent satisfied, 7 percent dissatisfied) in the Visayas; +70 (78 percent satisfied, 8 percent dissatisfied) in the rest of Luzon; +61 (74 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied) in Mindanao; and +59 in Metro Manila (73 percent satisfied, 14 percent dissatisfied).
The President scored a +70 (79 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in rural areas and a +65 (75 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in urban areas.
Filipinos belonging to the upper-to-middle classes ABC gave the President +78 (84 percent satisfied, 6 percent dissatisfied); +68 (77 percent satisfied, 10 dissatisfied) among the Class D or masa; and +62 (74 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied) among the poorest Class E.
Male respondents gave the President a +67 (77 percent satisfied, 9 percent dissatisfied), and the female respondents, a +67 (78 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied).
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Secretary Ramon Carandang attributed the President's high rating to the successful impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
''The survey numbers are looking very good-they are record-high-and we believe this is because of the faith that the Filipino people continue to have on President Aquino and they believe that his campaign promises are being fulfilled such as anti-corruption and anti-poverty,'' Carandang said.
Carandang said the President is ''happy'' with the survey results.
''I think any politician who is working so hard to get his programs through would be happy to know that the public approves of his numbers, of his performance. I think it's safe to assume that the President is happy,'' he said.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the SWS survey showed the people's support for the ''difficult yet necessary reforms'' the Aquino has launched.
Lacierda described the 14-point jump as ''impressive.''
''The consistently strong numbers affirm the President's mandate for change; they are tangible indicators of the people's support for the difficult yet necessary reforms the President has championed since day one,'' he said.
The results ''mirror the strong showing of the Philippines, especially with respect to its institutions and governance, in the recent Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum,'' he said.
Public confidence and trust in the President, Lacierda said, ''also suggests high morale in a public increasingly empowered, and itself sustained in its positive feeling about the nation's direction and prospects for the future.'' -additional report from JC Bello Ruiz
