Life moves on for PGMA

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is on a five-day visit to China. During this trip, she encourages Chinese businessmen to invest in the country and honored National Hero Jose Rizal. Several local government unit officials joined this trip for various reasons such as looking for ethanol production investors, among others.

I wonder if the joint exploration of Spratlys Island will materialize and bear the fruit she desires. I'm hopeful though with the 7-11 stores for the masses.

The President faces a lot of pressure on various issues this week from reported missing persons in her term, women's protest, legitimacy, militants, among others. The Philippine National Police is on full alert during this China trip.

Nevertheless, the President's relationship with the business community is stronger than ever with the expressed support for the RP-Japan trade pact. This is in addition to the public support she is gradually regaining.

She is also pushing for the anti-terror meeting to be finalized soon and encourages allies to prepare for the May 2007 elections.

plug: ituloy angsulong!

PGMA rating gets better

The Third Quarter 2006 Social Weather Survey finds 37% Satisfied and 48% Dissatisfied with the performance of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for an unfavorable Net Satisfaction Rating of –11. [The number –11 should be read as “minus-eleven,” not as “negative-eleven”.]

This is slightly up from the Second Quarter, which had 34% Satisfied and likewise 48% Dissatisfied, or Net –13, correctly rounded.

President Macapagal-Arroyo’s national net rating has been unfavorable for nine consecutive survey rounds, ever since the Third Quarter of 2004.

Positive only in the Visayas

PGMA’s Net Satisfaction score is favorable only in the Visayas, where it grew to +6 in September from +2 last June. [The number +6 should be read as “plus-six,” not as “positive-six”.]

It became slightly less negative in Metro Manila, at -41 now compared to –47 last June, and in the Balance of Luzon, at -10 now compared to –13 in June.

In Mindanao it dipped insignificantly to –8 now, from –7 in June.

Rural people now feel neutral

The President made a significant gain in rural areas, where those Satisfied grew from 34% in June to 42% in September, while those Dissatisfied fell from 46% to 43%, bringing her rural net score to –1 now compared to –12 previously, or a change to a neutral score from a previously unfavorable one. The balance from 100% are fence-sitters, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

In urban areas, on the other hand, those Satisfied were unchanged at 35%, while those Dissatisfied barely moved, from 50% to 51%, making her urban net score a clearly unfavorable –17 (correctly rounded), compared to –15 in June.

Thus the unfavorable national sentiment about the President is presently accounted for by strongly negative feelings in urban areas outbalancing neutral feelings in rural areas.

Women no longer more dissatisfied than men

Among women, satisfaction with PGMA rose to 38% in September from 31% in June, and dissatisfaction was steady at 49%, causing women’s net satisfaction to rise to –11 from –17 (correctly rounded) formerly.

Among men, on the other hand, both satisfaction (to 37% from 38%) and dissatisfaction (to 48% from 47%) barely moved, causing men’s net satisfaction to be steady at –11 now, from –10 (correctly rounded) formerly.

In short, women and men are now equally dissatisfied with PGMA, whereas last June women were more dissatisfied with her than men.

Slight increases in all classes

President Arroyo’s Net Satisfaction Rating is more or less equally low among the middle-to-upper ABC classes (-20) and in the very poor E class (-18), but not as bad among the masa or D class (-6).

It rose slightly in all classes compared to June 2006, when it was –27 among the ABCs, –22 among the Es, and -10 among the Ds.

Welcome to PGMA blog!

I've been monitoring news about President Arroyo regularly and hope to share them here in this blog. Enjoy!