State of the Nation Address

Filipinos expect a lot from Aquino, says survey

Posted October 14, 2010 05:29:00(Mla Time)

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—People are expecting a lot from President Benigno Aquino III.

There are high expectations that Mr. Aquino will fulfill what he promised in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) and serve the poor, according to the 3rd quarter 2010 Social Weather Stations survey, conducted from Sept. 24 to 27 and released Wednesday.

According to the survey, 44 percent of respondents expected Mr. Aquino to keep “most/all” of his promises in his first SONA, compared to the 19 percent who expected former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to keep “most/all” of her promises in her July 23, 2001 SONA.

It also found that 48 percent believed Mr. Aquino was serving the interest of the poor, compared to only 25 percent in 2001 and 19 percent in 2007 who believed Arroyo was serving the poor.

Of the 1,200 respondents, 78 percent were aware of Mr. Aquino’s SONA, compared to the 44 percent who said they were aware of Arroyo’s SONA in 2001.

Of Mr. Aquino’s SONA, 56 percent said they watched it live on television, 15 percent heard about it on TV, 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 the newspapers, and less than one percent (0.1 percent) learned about it on the Internet.

Twenty-two percent had neither heard nor read about Aquino’s SONA.

In 2001, 25 percent watched Arroyo’s SONA live on television, 12 percent heard about it on TV, six percent heard about it on radio, five percent listened to it live on radio, four percent read about it on the newspapers, and two percent heard about it from other people, with 56 percent unaware of the Arroyo SONA.

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

By comparison, in 2001, five percent said “all or nearly all,” 14 percent said “most,” 64 percent said “a few” and 16 percent said “almost none” of Arroyo’s promises in her SONA could be fulfilled.

To the question, “Do you think President Noynoy Aquino was serving the interests of the rich, the middle class, or the poor? (multiple responses allowed),” 48 percent said he was serving the poor, 55 percent said the middle class, and 23 percent said the rich.

By comparison, those who said Arroyo was serving the interests of the poor went from 25 percent in 2003 to 19 percent in 2007. It went from 33 percent to 31 percent for those who said she was serving the middle class, and from 65 percent to 59 percent for those who said she was serving the rich.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The sampling error margin was plus-or-minus three percentage points for national percentages, and plus-or-minus six percentage points for area percentages.

The SWS surveys of 2001, 2003 and 2007 cited were conducted from Sept. 1 to 18, 2001, Aug. 30 to Sept. 14, 2003, and Sept. 2 to 5, 2007, respectively. All surveys had sample sizes of 1,200 adults, for error margins of plus-or-minus three percentage points. Inquirer Research