Bad policies causes P-Noy ratings dip—solon

MANILA, April 4, 2011—A Kabataan Partylist lawmaker said the current dip in the ratings of the president is caused by the bad policies his administration is currently implementing.

Rep. Raymond V. Palatino assailed Palace aides’ claim that the sudden drop of Pres. Benigno C. Aquino’s ratings is due to “bad projection” by the media.

Instead, the legislator stressed, it is Malacañang’s bad economic policies that caused the sudden drop on the Chief Executive’s ratings.

The latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows that the President’s satisfaction rating had dropped from +64 in November 2010, to +51 on March 2011.

“President Aquino’s failure to address the basic needs of the people is correlative to his satisfaction rating. Amidst price hikes, low wages, joblessness, dwindling funds to social services and so on, an increase in rating is far from what the Palace should expect,” Palatino said.

What is more interesting with the survey is that the top reason why the people are dissatisfied with the bachelor president is his purchase of the luxury car, Porsche. The president did the purchase amid the burgeoning number of hungry people in the Philippines. By that time, an estimated 3.14 million families have suffered involuntary hunger, while there were 4.16 million Filipinos who are jobless.

“To appease the public, President Aquino and his clique of communication experts would repeatedly justify the Porsche purchase by saying that he used his own money for it. That makes it even worse and much more distasteful. Marami ang walang trabaho at hindi alam kung saan huhugutin ang kanilang panggastos tapos ‘eto ang ating Presidente magsasabi na ok lang na bumili siya ng mamahaling sports car bilang meron naman siyang pera,” Palatino explained.

In a research conducted by this reporter, a Porsche sports car, a Cayman for example is worth P5.1 million, based on the April 2010 prices.

But the Chief Executive’s alleged insensitivity is beyond the Porsche purchase, the young lawmaker said.

“The P500-M oil subsidy is a band-aid solution that obviously sides with the interest of the oil cartel, not with the long-term welfare of the people. Instead of pushing for the nationalization of the oil industry and regulating the greed of oil companies, President Aquino came up with this rather incompetent measure to supposedly cushion the impact of the oil price hikes. The subsidy won’t solve anything, not to mention that the amount is loose change compared to the billions of daily profit of the “Big Three”,” Palatino said.

Palatino also lambasted Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte’s remark that in order to arrest the President’s diving rating, the Palace should aggressively boast the accomplishments of the Aquino government through the media. He called this “strategy” by the Palace as “trapo” (shortcut of traditional politician) line.

The lawmaker reminds the Palace that running the country must not be done in a showbiz-type of management.

“Running a country is not show business. It is ultimately the social policies effectuated by President Aquino which will matter. But based on what’s happening now, it appears that the change he promised means harsher living conditions for the people. There can be no change as long as President Aquino implements the same old policies of the Arroyo government. He should not be surprised when, in the near future, he’ll end up being more unpopular than the president he replaced,” Palatino statement said. (Noel Sales Barcelona)