SWS: Noy seen working for poor

MANILA, Philippines - A recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that almost half of Filipinos believe that President Aquino is serving the interests of the poor.

The survey conducted from Sept. 24 to 27 also found 44 percent of the 1,200 respondents saying that they expected Mr. Aquino to fulfill most or all of the promises he made in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 26.

Results of the SWS survey were published yesterday in the newspaper BusinessWorld.

To the question, “Do you think President Noynoy Aquino is serving the interests of the rich, the middle class or the poor?” 48 percent answered the poor, 55 percent the middle class and 23 percent the rich.

Mr. Aquino’s serving the interests of the poor rating is higher than the 25 percent of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003 and 19 percent in 2007.

The SWS found in its September 2003 survey that 25 percent of Filipinos said Arroyo, now a Pampanga congresswoman, served the interests of the poor, 33 percent the middle class and 59 percent the rich.

Meanwhile, there are more Filipinos expecting Mr. Aquino to fulfill the pledges he made in his SONA than Arroyo, the SWS poll said.

To the question, “In your opinion, how many of the promises of President Noynoy Aquino can be fulfilled?” nine percent responded “all or nearly all,” 35 percent “most,” 50 percent “a few,” and four percent “almost none.”

In a September 2001 survey, five percent said Arroyo would keep “all or nearly all“ of her promises, 14 percent said “most,“ while 64 percent and 16 percent responded “a few“ and “almost none,“ respectively.

Awareness of Mr. Aquino’s first SONA was also high at 78 percent, the SWS said, compared to the 44 percent for Arroyo.

With regard to Mr. Aquino‘s first SONA, 56 percent said they watched it live on television, 15 percent heard about it on television, nine percent heard about it from other people, eight percent listened to it live on radio, five percent heard about it on radio, three percent read about it in newspapers and less than one percent (0.1 percent) learned about it on the Internet.

A quarter or 25 percent said they watched Arroyo’s 2001 SONA live on television, 12 percent heard about it on television, six percent heard about it on radio, five percent listened to it live on radio, four percent read about it in the newspapers, and two percent heard about it from other people.

Helen Flores, Philippine Star