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Game changers: SC decision on Poe and AMLC report on Binay

March 18, 2016March 18, 2016 Ellen

Grace Poe in San Pablo city

Next week’s surveys should give us a clearer picture of the sentiments of the Filipino voters.

By then, we would know whose campaign is struggling from collapsing and whose campaign is pulling away.

The latest surveys that we got this week (Pulse Asia for ABS-CBN) which put Grace Poe leading (28 percent) with just a few percentage points over Rodrigo Duterte (24 percent), who dislodged Jejomar Binay (21 percent) in the second place and Mar Roxas closely following with 20 percent, was conducted a few days before the Supreme Court declared that Poe is qualified to run for the presidency of the Philippines.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago, by the way, held on to her three percent.

The survey was conducted March 1 to 6 while the Supreme Court decision on Poe was released March 8.

The Magdalo survey conducted March 2-4 also had the same result: Poe, 31 percent; Duterte, 29.5; Binay, 21.5 ; Roxas, 14.3; and Santiago, 3.3.

Rodrigo Duterte

Even before the High Court’s decision that removed a heavy cloud over Poe’s candidacy for president, she was already recovering from the dip that the Commission on Election decision to disqualify her had caused. It was a two percentage points increase from 26 percent that she registered in the Feb. 16 to 27 survey that Pulse Asia also conducted for ABS-CBN.

Also, even more than a week ago, Binay’s “recovery” seems to have stopped. From 24 per cent last February, he slid down to 21 percent first week of March, allowing Duterte who gained two percentage points to overtake him in second place.

No wonder, Duterte, who was noticeably soft on Binay before, has joined the call for the vice president to answer the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council that he amassed “billions” from infrastructure projects and hid it through back accounts of dummies.

Jejomar Binay in Vigan

The AMLC report, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, also revealed that Binay in October 2014, sent to an account in Hongkong P100 million through Philrem Service Corp, a money remittance company, that is currently embroiled in the $81 million hacking of the Bangladesh Bank account with the US Federal Reserve and money laundering scandal involving a Philippine bank.

The P100 million remittance was reportedly facilitated by the law firm where the Vice President’s daughter, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, now running for Makati City mayor, is a partner.

Binay through his spokesman Joey Salgado has denied Inquirer’s story on the AMLC report. Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance slammed the report as “false” and “outdated”. UNA dubbed it as a politically motivated “well planned black propaganda.”

Mar in Batangas

The Liberal party, as expected, is hammering it hard on Binay. Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice challenged Binay to issue a waiver for Philrem to release records of his remittances abroad.

LP spokesman Rep. Barry Gutierrez said the public’s lack of trust on Binay is his own doing.“If (the report) is already dated, then why didn’t he answer it before? If it’s not true, why didn’t the VP himself face the Senate to prove that it’s false?” he said.

In our man-on-the street interviews, there were a number who said they will go for Binay despite the allegations of corruption against him. Some believe Binay’s line that the allegations are untrue while others said if he is corrupt, he has proven to be a competent leader.

Yet, in the Pulse Asia survey last January on the voters most important consideration in choosing a presidential candidate, number one is “Untarnished character/reputation, not corrupt”, 28 percent followed by a clear program of action, 14 percent and extensive experience in governance, 12 percent.

Let’s see next survey how these values manifest in the light of what are being exposed in media and how it will impact on the candidates’ campaign.

Concerns of everyday Filipinojs

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015 Ellen Leave a comment

A scene in Davao city. From flickr

The findings of Pulse Asia’s survey on most urgent national concerns should be of interest to candidates in the 2016 elections.

Last month, Pulse Asia listed several national issues and asked 2,400 respondents nationwide to name three that the Aquino administration should act on.

They were also told to include other concerns that were not in the list.

The findings would be a helpful guide not only on how the candidates would conduct their campaign but also how they could chart their program of governance if they win.

Never mind Pres. Aquino. If he was not able to address these issues in the more than five years that he was in Malacanang, there’s no reason to hope that he would have the genius to solve them in his last eight months in office.

Pulse Asia said the most often cited urgent national concerns among Filipinos are workers’ pay (47%) and inflation (46%).

These are working class concerns. Which, in a way is a good indicator that the respondents were working .Their concerns are not basic survival like roof over their head or where to get their next meal. Their problem is how to make both ends meet that’s why they are concerned about inflation which erodes the purchasing power of their money.

The second cluster of urgent national concerns include graft and corruption (39%) and jobs (37%).

Candidates should be forewarned of this major concern about graft and corruption. Filipinos care about how their tax money is being used.

This is why Vice President Jejomar Binay’s ratings plunged when the Senate investigation lead by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV exposed massive irregularities in Makati’s building and other projects.

Thirty-seven percent of Filipinos of Filipinos are concerned of creation of more jobs. This indicates that Filipinos do not shirk from work. But it conveys a yearning for jobs in the country where they could be with their families.

Pres. Aquino’s spin in his last State- of-the-Nation address that an indicator of improved economy was the reduced number of Filipinos going overseas to work is not quite true. The number of overseas Filipinos went down because many Filipinos workers were forced to come home because of hostilities in the host country. Think of Syria.

Pulse Asia said 32 percent of Filipinos are concerned about extreme poverty in the country and the need to reduce it. Related to this are their concerns about criminality (25%) and lack of peace (18%) in some parts of the country.