SWS: Robredo satisfaction rating drops

MANILA (UPDATED) - Public satisfaction with Vice President Leni Robredo slid by 11 percentage points in the first quarter of 2017, according to results of an opinion poll released on Tuesday.

Robredo obtained a net satisfaction rating of +26 in the Social Weather Stations' survey of 1,200 respondents from March 25 to 28. Her score qualifies as "moderate," and is 11 percentage points down from her "good" +37 rating last December.

Net satisfaction is the difference between the satisfaction and dissatisfaction scores. In the most recent survey, 53 percent said they were satisfied with the Vice President, 27 percent were dissatisfied and 19 percent were undecided.

The March 25 to 28 survey was conducted days after Robredo revealed alleged irregularities in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs via a video message to the United Nations.

The video message had prompted House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to mull an an impeachment complaint against Robredo, whom he accused of betrayal of public trust.

• Too early for 'divisive' impeachment, says Robredo

The same survey showed Alvarez enjoying a 2 percentage point increase in his net satisfaction rating to a "moderate" +12 from a "moderate" +10.

The poll was conducted before Alvarez faced threats of a disbarment case over having a girlfriend outside marriage.

Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno also saw drops in their satisfaction marks, SWS noted.

Pimentel's rating dropped one grade to a "moderate" +37 from December’s "good" +49.

Sereno's rating stayed "moderate", but dropped 2 points to +14 from +16.

First published on BusinessWorld, the survey has sampling error margins of +/-3 percent at the national level.

A separate SWS survey earlier revealed that Duterte satisfaction rating remained a “very good” +63, despite Robredo's UN message and an ouster bid against him.