President Benigno Aquino’s high approval rating will not boost the image of Mar Roxas, his presidential candidate under the administration Liberal Party.

Roxas also cannot claim credit for the rating because his resignation as Interior Secretary helped the Aquino administration recover from accusations of mismanagement.

This dampener on Roxas, Aquino’s former Interior Secretary who has fared badly in surveys for presidential preference, was fired off by the opposition United Nationalist Alliance as results of a Pulse Asia approval survey rated Aquino with a high 54 percent.

 

The survey was conducted nationwide from September 8 to 14, with 2,400 respondents, at a time when Roxas had already resigned from the Aquino cabinet.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, the presidential bet of the opposition UNA, had an approval rating of 43 percent, down from 58 percent in June.

Roxas could not claim credit for Aquino’s rating, said an official of UNA who begged to remain anonymous in the meantime as he awaits the reaction of Roxas to the result of the  survey.

We would rather believe if Roxas topped with an extremely high rating a disapproval survey, if there is such a thing, taken at a time when he was the Interior secretary, said the official in jest.

If this was done, baka pulutin si Roxas sa basurahan with his role in the Disbursement Acceleration Program, Mamasapano Massacre and the Yolanda Tragedy, among others where a bumbling Interior Secretary showed the kind of a weak leader he is, said the official.

 

Roxas resigned as Interior Secretary on September 11 to run for president after Aquino named him as the LP standard bearer in the 2016 elections.

 Binay and Roxas will contest the presidency with independent candidate Senator Grace Poe. A potential fourth contender, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, has yet to announce his bid.

Binay beat Roxas in the vice presidential race in 2010. 

Liberal Party stalwarts could not agree on the benefit of the survey on Roxas or its impact on Binay.

 House Speaker Sonny Belmonte is not comfortable with the Pulse Asia survey and expressed worry at Binay’s rating even as it has slid down by 15 points.

 

The trend maybe unfavorable for Binay but his score is formidable, said Belmonte.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, a spokesman for the LP, said the slide in Binay’s ratings favors Roxas.

     The continued high approval rating of Aquino and the huge decline in the rating of Binay will certainly have an impact in the outcome of next year’s elections, according to Evardone.

 

Aquino was the only one of top five government officials who got a majority approval rating in the survey.

In the Pulse Asia “Comparative Performance Ratings of Top National Officials” survey, Aquino snagged 54 percent, Senate President Franklin Drilon netted 50, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P. A. Sereno had 49, Binay got 43, followed by Belmonte with 32.

 

The UNA official said Binay was expected to recover lost ground as he goes around the country to explain his performance as Vice President

 

The survey also showed Binay’s trust rating plunging to 39 percent from the 57 percent in June.

The UNA official said Binay was also expected to rise from his declining trust rating as the Vice President parries off  allegations levelled against him which is being investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon Subcommittee.

The Senate probe is seen as a key factor in Binay’s rating in the Pulse Asia trust survey.

Binay has dismissed the allegations as propaganda aimed to derail his presidential bid.

Pulse Asia’s survey in June showed Binay topping both the trust and approval rating surveys.

main photo by PHILSTAR