Gloria on the Way Down
8 of 10
Filipinos dissatisfied with President Macapagal-Arroyo
A recent survey of IBON
Foundation confirms telltale signs of 2005 as a critical year for
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Based on its Dec. 20-29, 2004
nationwide survey, IBON revealed an increasing number of Filipinos who
are dissatisfied with the President’s performance .
By Bulatlat
 A recent survey of
IBON Foundation confirms telltale signs of 2005 as a critical year for
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Based on its Dec.
20-29, 2004 nationwide survey, IBON revealed an increasing number of
Filipinos who rate the President’s performance as unsatisfactory.
IBON research
director Antonio Tujan told reporters in a news conference Jan. 8 that of
1,313 respondents they surveyed, 79.89 percent called Macapagal-Arroyo’s
performance unsatisfactory.
This figure is
unprecedented and is higher compared to the Oct. 2004 survey’s 76.33
percent and April 2004’s 55.8 percent.
The yearend survey by
IBON, an independent research think tank based in Manila, also closely
matched recent findings by other research agencies, including Pulse Asia
and Social Weather Stations (SWS), who found the President’s popularity
rating consistently falling.
IBON said that on the
other hand those who believe that Macapagal-Arroyo did her job
satisfactorily fell from 25.2 percent in April to 8.46 percent in October
to 6.25 percent in December last year.
Tujan said that the
lack of important reforms that would address the people’s urgent issues
like prices, jobs, and wages to name a few, “contributed to the growing
number of Filipinos who are not satisfied with the performance of the
President.”
“These were
aggravated by the fiscal crisis and the corruption scandals involving
public officials and the military,” Tujan, who also chairs the Center for
People Empowerment in Governance (CENPEG), continued.
Life worsened in 2004
In the same survey,
the number of respondents who said that their income and livelihood
worsened in 2004 went up to 54.23 percent from 53.18 percent and 38.37
percent in October and July, respectively.
A big percentage –
64.2 percent – said their family income is not enough to meet their basic
needs, a slight decrease from the previous October’s 66.29 percent.
Ironically, IBON
found less pessimism among its respondents on the economy in 2005. The
number of respondents who think that the economy will worsen this year
went down significantly from 53.26 percent in October to 33.59 percent in
December.
Many Filipinos also
maintain a “wait-and-see attitude” with the number of respondents
uncertain of this year’s economy going up to 12 percent, the IBON survey
said.
IBON also revealed
most Filipinos want price regulation back (51.18 percent); reject VAT
expansion (74.11 percent); power and water rate hikes are unreasonable (92
percent).
These findings, Tujan
said, are not surprising because amid poverty, low income and joblessness,
“every centavo that would add up to people’s expenses is unacceptable.”
Government not helping
“What makes the
people more upset,” he said, “is the perception that government is not
helping them and, worse ever, promotes power and water rate increases.”
Further, most
respondents are for a total log ban (79.82 percent); 57.43 percent also
oppose amending the 1987 Constitution.
The IBON yearend
survey was conducted nationwide to gauge the people’s perception of the
economy, their income and livelihood, government performance, and other
pressing issues.
It also coincided
with the wake and burial of Fernando Poe., Jr., the movie king-turned
presidential contender who many Filipinos believe was defrauded in the May
2004 elections. Poe was buried on Dec. 22 by an estimated one million
mourners in Manila.
Two political
analysts interviewed in last week’s Bulatlat issue agreed that President
Macapagal-Arroyo will not likely survive 2005, hinting that her political
foes and disgruntled military elements would unite for her ouster.
Bulatlat
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