The Philippine Online Chronicles

President Benigno Aquino III's administration maintains a “good” satisfaction rating as shown in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from June 3 to 6.

The survey reveals that the Aquino administration garnered +45 points for June (62 percent satisfied, 17 percent dissatisfied, and 19 percent ambivalent), which is down from +46 in March, and from a “very good” 64+ mark in September and November 2010.

According to SWS however, the rating is still higher than all other scores recorded since 1986. Before Aquino, the previous highest score was garnered by former president Joseph Estrada, who got a “good” +36 in November 1998.

The SWS classifies net satisfaction scores of +70 and above 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”.

A 10-point increase in the net satisfaction with the Aquino administration's general performance was seen in Mindanao, where he garnered a “very good” score of +57.

However, Aquino's general performance rating fell in other areas. In Balance Luzon, the net satisfaction rating fell five points to +37.

From previously “very good,” ratings in the Visayas (+47, down by four points) and Metro Manila (+48, down two points), scores fell to “good.”

By socioeconomic class, an increase was recorded among class ABC, with the score now at a “good” +45, and class D or masa, now at “good” +48. However, net satisfaction dropped by four points among the E category, falling to +36.

The respondents were also satisfied with the government's performance in 17 specific issues, particularly in helping migrant Filipinos (“good” +41, from a “moderate” +33 in March 2000) and going after tax evaders (+22, up significantly from the “poor" -11 when the issue was last tested in May 2005).

However, many respondents think that the current administration has failed in terms of resolving the issue of the Maguindanao massacre (“poor” -16, three points up from -19 in March).

The government scored “good” in terms of: typhoon preparations (+46, first time to be included in the survey), helping the poor (+44, down three points from March), foreign relations (+43, down a point from March), and fighting terrorism (+30, up a point from three months earlier).

Meanwhile, the government scored “moderate” ratings in: housing for the poor (+27, down three points from March), reconciliation with Muslim rebels (+25, down seven points from March), reconciliation with communist rebels (+23, down eight points from March), fighting crimes (+23, up three points from March), prosecuting tax evaders, deciding quickly on important problems (+22, down a point from March), suppressing private armies in Mindanao (+17, down seven points from March), and eradicating graft and corruption (+16, up two points from March).

“Neutral” net ratings were on issues of fighting inflation (+4, up four points from zero in March), ensuring no family will be hungry (+4, down a point from March), and ensuring that oil firms do not take advantage of oil prices (zero; this was the first time that the issue was included).