Survey: GMA okay with 60% of Filipinos

Despite the country’s sluggish economy, a festering Muslim insurgency and a lingering terrorist threat, most Filipinos approve of President Arroyo’s handling of the nation’s problems, according to an independent survey.

Sixty percent of some 8,700 respondents nationwide approved her performance while 40 percent disapproved, Vox Populi Philippines Corp. said, releasing poll results yesterday.

Most people in 70 of the country’s 79 provinces gave Mrs. Arroyo passing marks, the survey also showed.

The top 15 provinces where the President got the highest support were: her home province of Pampanga (95 percent), Bohol (92 percent), Antique (89 percent), Zamboanga de Sibugay (85 percent), Albay, Cebu and Negros Occidental (82 percent), Tarlac (81 percent), Bukidnon and Camarines Sur (79 percent), Iloilo (75 percent), and Davao del Sur and Pangasinan (73 percent).

On the other hand, the nine provinces where most of the poll respondents gave Mrs. Arroyo failing marks were: Ilocos Sur and Maguindanao (81 percent), Lanao del Sur (75 percent), Camarines Norte (74 percent), Bulacan (60 percent), Rizal and Sarangani (59 percent), Ilocos Norte (54 percent) and Laguna (52 percent).

Survey respondents said they gave Mrs. Arroyo high approval ratings generally because she was "hardworking," highly respected by world leaders, intelligent and honest, Vox Populi said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo’s legendary flare-ups, her staunch support for the US-led war on terrorism, her "insincerity," and her way of running the country were generally behind the disapproval ratings, the poll firm added.

The survey was conducted from May 3 to 4 and had an error margin of less than one percentage point. Vox Populi president Mansing Sarmiento said the survey respondents were interviewed and the results were transmitted to Manila from the provinces via the Internet.

Mrs. Arroyo has managed to maintain a steady approval after her sudden withdrawal from the 2004 presidential election and her support for the US-led war on Iraq, previous surveys by other pollsters showed.

Mrs. Arroyo’s 45 percent rating was virtually unchanged from a November 2002 survey where she got 46 percent despite rising pessimism among Filipinos on their future, Pulse Asia Inc. said early this month.

Mrs. Arroyo unexpectedly withdrew in December from next year’s presidential contest, saying it would distract her from improving the lives of Filipinos, 39 percent of whom live in poverty.

Many believe she withdrew because her popularity has been on the wane since she assumed the presidency after a military-backed popular uprising in January 2001.

In the Pulse Asia survey, Mrs. Arroyo got higher approval ratings on handling of the decades-old Muslim insurgency in Mindanao but low support for her economic recovery efforts.

Peace and order became the country’s top concern because of the continuing threat of terrorism in the Asian region, the recent bombings in Davao City and the upsurge of attacks by Islamic and communist rebels, Pulse Asia explained.

Before leaving for the United States last week, Mrs. Arroyo ordered "selective" military operations against the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which she blamed for recent attacks in Mindanao.

The government accuses the MILF of attacking civilians in retaliation for the military’s capture of an MILF camp in February in the North Cotabato town of Pikit.