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THE fuel
and food subsidies for which the administration has been
criticized—for using scarce resources for unsustainable
remedies—did not boost the public’s perception of top
government leaders, it turns out.
A new
Pulse Asia survey shows they have not improved the low
approval rating of the President that remained largely
on the same level. The survey showed similar sentiments
between those who received the subsidies, and those who
did not.
The
survey results come even as Malacañang indicated that
the President will justify such subsidies in her State
of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, and chart her
bigger plans for easing the impact of the food and fuel
crises beyond the much-criticized subsidies that were
funded from “windfall” collections from the value-added
tax (VAT).
The
latest Pulse Asia July 2008 Nationwide Survey on
Presidential Performance and Trust Ratings showed,
however, markedly improved ratings in opposition bastion
Metro Manila, though Pulse Asia suggested this may have
been from the absence of a major corruption issue in the
past months.
Pulse
Asia executive director Dr. Ana Maria Tabunda said in a
statement that “almost the same percentages of
Filipinos” believe the primary reason for subsidies is
in preparation for the May 2010 polls (35 percent) or in
fulfillment of its responsibility to give such help (30
percent); 24 percent believe the subsidies are meant to
help the poor at a difficult time; while 10 percent
think it is done to “avoid any conflicts in the country
brought about by severe poverty.”
At this
afternoon’s Sona before Congress, President Arroyo will
bare her National Social Welfare Program and detail
other government efforts to ease the pressures of rising
oil and food costs on ordinary Filipinos in the near and
long term.
Palace
officials said in separate statements that Mrs. Arroyo
will seek a supplemental budget for the rehabilitation
of typhoon-ravaged Panay Island and her social welfare
program, and will push for priority legislation that she
believes would help put the country in a better state by
the time her successor takes over in 2010.
Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Cerge Remonde said
in a news briefing on Friday that this year’s Sona will
go beyond the usual report on administration
accomplishments in the light of food and energy-security
concerns, as well as the destruction inflicted on parts
of the country by natural calamities.
“Besieged on the global front by growing concern over
food and energy security, however, and battered in the
countryside by calamities like [Typhoons] Frank and
Helen, we might now look beyond the known targets, and
expect more than the chronicles....This will be more
somber and yet will still be upbeat, at the same time,”
Remonde said.
He said
the President will present a “well-consolidated plan” to
confront the challenges facing the country, especially
on food and fuel price concerns, and will not be limited
to short-term government subsidies and cash assistance
but medium-term and long-term measures.
The PMS
chief said that Malacañang will not yet submit its
proposed 2009 budget to Congress on Monday, but the
President will seek a supplemental budget for the
rehabilitation of Panay–similar to the Bicol fund she
sought for the same purpose–and “some of the welfare
programs” he did not identify.
Remonde
also said the VAT, on which the government had hinged
much of its fiscal strength, “will figure quite
prominently in the speech”, particularly its role in
poverty alleviation, amid a new Ibon Foundation poll
showing that 90 percent of Metro Manila residents want
the tax measure scrapped.
“We will
try to rise to the challenge,” Remonde said, adding the
President will “account for how VAT is spent and how it
is being spent.”
The
President has ordered the release of P8 billion,
representing extra revenues from the VAT on oil in the
first half of the year, for eight so-called Katas ng
Evat on Oil programs such as the Pantawid Kuryente
Program which seeks to give P500 each to 6,257,277
million lifeline users in franchise areas of the Manila
Electric Co. and the National Electrification
Administration’s electric cooperatives.
The
Office of the President has reported that of the
P3-billion allotment, P891.3 million has been disbursed
to 28.49 percent of the beneficiaries to date; 98.5
percent of intended beneficiaries of the P1 billion
equally divided to fund student scholarships and student
loans have been served.
At least
P500 million each went to free fluorescent lighting to
lifeline power consumers, loans to public transport
vehicles shifting to alternative fuels, and subsidy to
senior citizens not covered by the Social Security
System and the Government Service Insurance System; and
P1 billion for microfinance projects of wives and
immediate families of public-transport workers.
At least
P1 billion was also earmarked for Panay and islands
seriously damaged by typhoon Frank, and P500 million for
the upgrading of provincial hospitals from primary to
secondary.
Remonde
said the President is not expected to mention Charter
change in her Sona, and any insinuation that Mrs. Arroyo
would push for constitutional amendments in pursuit of a
term extension, and not a final peace settlement with
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is “without
basis,” according to him.
“The
President intends to finish her term in 2010 and leave
the next President with a better government and a better
country,” stressed Remonde.
Meanwhile, Pulse Asia’s latest survey showed
“disapproval for presidential performance and distrust
in President Arroyo remain the predominant public
sentiment with almost one out of every 2 Filipinos (48
percent) being critical of President Arroyo’s
performance and a small majority (53 percent)
distrusting her.”
The
survey was conducted with 1,200 respondents July 1-14
with a ± 3 percent error margin at the 95 percent
confidence level; subnational estimates for each of the
geographic areas a ± 6 percent error margin, also at 95
percent confidence level. Pulse Asia added the survey
was made without any party commissioning the effort.
The
survey showed 22 percent of Filipinos believe the
President performed well; 30 percent are uncertain of
her performance; 19 percent trust her and 28 percent
cannot say whether or not to trust her.
Tabunda
said Visayans remain “most inclined to trust” Mrs.
Arroyo while those in Mindanao grant her the lowest
trust rating, 32 percent versus 12 percent who trust
her; distrust for the President is highest in Mindanao
(64 percent) and lowest in the Visayas (37 percent).
The
survey results also showed the President obtained
similar performance and trust ratings from both
recipients and nonrecipients of government subsidies.
Tabunda
said 55 percent of the respondents affirmed that they
are beneficiaries of government subsidies while the rest
said they are not.
She said
that 49 percent of Filipinos bought
government-subsidized rice through the National Food
Authority at P18.25 per kilo, 9 percent availed of the
P500 subsidy for lifeline users, 6 percent benefited
from the “Food-for-School Program,” and 2 percent
received the P1,500-fertilizer subsidy to farmers.
“However, despite the various efforts of the Arroyo
administration to help poor Filipinos, it appears that
President Arroyo is not getting much mileage from these
subsidies as she registers basically the same
performance and trust ratings among those who received
at least one subsidy in the past quarter and those who
did not,” said Tabunda. |
