Law enforcement sees ‘significant’ drop in public appreciation —Pulse Asia

The public's appreciation for equal law enforcement in the country under the Duterte administration significantly dropped during the third quarter of the year, based on a Pulse Asia Survey released Friday.

From 74 percent in June 2017, the national approval rating for "enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people" fell seven percentage points to 67 percent in September 2017, according to the survey.

This drop is the steepest decline in approval ratings among 12 national issues studied by Pulse Asia through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults all over the Philippines from September 24 to 30, 2017.

"For the period June to September 2017, the only significant change in the national administration’s performance ratings is the decline in the level of appreciation for its efforts to enforce the law equally on all citizens (-7 percentage points)," the survey said.

While government action to fight criminality was at 78 percent — the highest approval rating among the selected issues despite a six-point drop from June figures — Pulse Asia said the change in the government's crime-fighting appreciation "fall[s] short of being considered significant in light of the survey's overall error margin of +/- 3 percentage points."

The same was said for the government's actions against corruption and for the promotion of peace. According to the survey, 70 percent of Filipinos approved of the government's fight against graft and corruption in September, compared to June's 76 percent; while appreciation for the increasing peace in the country dropped by one percentage point, or from 68 percent to 67 percent.

On the whole, the Duterte administration received majority approval ratings for its actions on 10 of 12 of the national issues covered by the survey.

The only ones that fell short of a majority approval were poverty reduction and inflation control, which 49 percent and 45 percent of Filipinos approved of, respectively.

12 selected issues

From highest to lowest, here are the approval ratings of the 12 selected national issues:

• Responding to the needs of areas affected by calamities -- 78 percent
• Fighting criminality - 78 percent
• Protecting the welfare of OFWs - 76 percent
• Fighting graft and corruption in government - 70 percent
• Stopping the destruction and abuse of our environment -- 68 percent
• Enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people - 67 percent
• Increasing peace in the country - 67 percent
• Defending the integrity of Philippine territory against foreigners - 65 percent
• Creating more jobs - 63 percent
• Improving/increasing the pay of workers - 58 percent
• Reducing the poverty of many Filipinos - 49 percent
• Controlling inflation - 45 percent

These ratings were determined after respondents were asked if they approved, disapproved, or were undecided on the national government's fulfillment of its duties on the above-mentioned issues.

Salient events during the survey period include the Senate investigation into the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China, the sacking of the Caloocan police force in light of the deaths of minors Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman, the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the proclamation of Martial Law, and the hazing death of law student Horacio Castillo III, among many others.

Top local, national concerns

Meanwhile, bad roads, flood, and drugs topped the list of the respondents' most urgent local concerns, according to the same survey.

Almost 16 percent (15.9) of the respondents answered bad or insufficient roads to the question: "What problem or issue in your place or barangay should the administration act on immediately?"

Flooding or clogged drainage was an urgent concern for 11.2 percent; while 10.2 percent wanted urgent government action on drug use, addiction or pushers.

Notably, there were more respondents, at 17.2 percent, who did not cite "any local concern which they think must be prioritized by the national administration," said the survey.

Waste management, unemployment, and a lack of irrigation of water services were the next most-urgent local concerns, though they were in the single-digit percentages.

According to the survey, bad roads were of chief concern mostly to those in Class E at 20.9 percent, but Classes ABC and D followed close behind at 16.2 and at 14.6 percent, respectively.

People in Visayas were most concerned with bad roads at 28.5 percent, closely followed by those from Mindanao at 23.5 percent, with Luzon and the National Capital Region trailing behind.

Flooding was most concerning to those in Class ABC at 14.4 percent, but the lower socioeconomic classes followed it with only a small gap, at 11.0 and 10.2 percent for Classes D and E, respectively.

Visayas also topped the other regions in its concern over flooding or clogged drainage, at 19.7 percent.

Drug use, EJKs

Those in Class E wanted the administration to act on drug use the most at 11.5 percent, but like the other top concerns, there was little difference among classes — Class D was at 10.1 percent, and Class ABC was at 8.8 percent.

The survey said drug use was chiefly a concern for people in Metro Manila, at 18.3 percent.

Extrajudicial killings, an otherwise much-discussed topic, was of concern to less than one percent of the surveyed Filipinos. The level of concern was around the same one as insurgency or public safety, insufficiency or absence of CCTVs, and noisy neighbors.

On the national level, however, inflation was the most urgent concern.

Fifty percent of the respondents said the government should urgently take action on controlling inflation.

Those who registered this response were distributed almost equally among regions and socioeconomic classes, with the exception of Metro Manila, where only 38 percent said inflation should be acted on with urgency.

Wages

Improving workers' wages was a top concern for 42 percent, while fighting criminality followed it at 36 percent. Around three out of 10 of Filipinos were concerned about government action on job creation (32 percent), fighting graft and corruption (28 percent), and poverty reduction (28 percent).

The National Wages and Productivity Commission granted workers a P21-wage hike in September, raising the minimum wage from P481 to P512.

At the bottom of the list, according to Pulse Asia, is changing the Constitution, which was of urgent concern to only two percent of the surveyed Filipinos.

Other issues include peace and order, law enforcement, environmental protection, tax reduction, population control, OFW welfare, and national defense. — MDM, GMA News