Why is it that public dissatisfaction with the performance of President Arroyo is increasing ("very bad," according to the latest Social Weather Station [SWS] survey) in the Metro Manila area while it seems to be diminishing in the rest of the country?
And why is it that while her nationwide popularity rating has been consistently poor (or in negative territory), that of her Cabinet members are not as dismal?
I am told that President Arroyo herself has been seeking answers to these questions. It is not true, as her spokesmen would want us to believe, that she remains stoical and unperturbed by her poor showing in the noncommissioned quarterly surveys being conducted by the SWS. This is according to a close friend who happens to be the chief of staff of a Cabinet member (who would probably wring my neck if I reveal his name).
My friend a poker buddy who generally prefers to play it close to his chest, finally loosened up the other evening as I treated him to a drink of single malt whiskey.
He recounted that in a recent Cabinet meeting (as 2008 drew to a close), President Arroyo—who was visibly agitated and in a foul mood—bluntly asked why most of them were smelling like a rose in the surveys while her own rating remained in the doldrums.
After a few seconds of silence, so my friend's story goes, one Cabinet member (his boss) stood up, cleared his throat and said: "With all due respect to my colleagues in the Cabinet, Madam President, I'd like to point out that most of us have been crowing about our individual accomplishments without giving credit to the President. For my part, I always make it a point to say you ordered me to do this or that.... The problem is many of us here tend to make self- centered statements.... For example, there is Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metro Manila Development Authority [MMDA] who carries on as if Malacañang does not exist. All his posters, public statements are all about him and him alone.... Then there is Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, who makes it seem that all of the government's efforts to promote social welfare would not have been possible without her leadership...."
(In the case of Chairman Fernando, if I may interject, President Arroyo is definitely better off without getting any credit for Fernando's various crazy projects in the metropolis. She might end up taking all the blame for all the inconveniences the MMDA has inflicted on Metro Manila residents.)
It was at this point, my friend recalled , that MMDA Chairman Fernando cried out in protest, but the President stopped him: "Tama ka na, Bayani!"
Mrs. Arroyo then turned to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and directed him to closely monitor all public statements and pronouncements, and to call their attention whenever they forget to give credit where it is due.
(Ermita by the way, is the officially designated spokesman of the President, not Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, who only presumes he is also Mrs. Arroyo's spokesman.)
But if I were in President Arroyo's place, I would worry—first of all—about the worsening level of public dissatisfaction over my performance in the Metro Manila area. The survey figures are shockingly bad in Metro Manila where Fernando has held sway for six years now. Here's the SWS finding:
"Dissatisfaction with the President worsened in Metro Manila, but was offset by the lessening dissatisfaction in the rest of Luzon." The basis for this conclusion were the following figures:
In. the last quarterly survey (November 28 to December 1,2008), net satisfaction with President Arroyo became more negative in Metro Manila, at a negative 45 percent (19 percent satisfied, 65 percent dissatisfied, correctly rounded), from a bad negative 36 percent (21 percent satisfied against 58 percent dissatisfied, correctly rounded) in September.
In other words, President Arroyo's Metro Manila net satisfaction rating of negative 45 percent is almost double that of the national average, which is only at negative 24 percent (29 percent satisfied, 53 percent dissatisfied). This means that if the rest of the country is grumbling, nearly half of the adults in Metro Manila must be boiling mad. This means, if her rating is "poor" in the rest of the country, it is "very bad" in Metro Manila, using the accepted SWS terminology on satisfaction ratings.
Am I suggesting that President Arroyo's increasing unpopularity in the Metro Manila area is largely the fault of Bayani Fernando, MMDA chairman? You bet I am.
Much of the public resentment in Metro Manila against the Arroyo administration, I believe, has been exacerbated by Femando's imperious, heavy-handed style of dealing with the Metro Manila public. It seems that anywhere you go in the metropolis, one can hear nothing but derision for this bureaucrat whom the public cannot even vote out of office. Ask anybody in the metropolis randomly. Ask the public utility drivers, pedestrians, motorists, vendors, students, professionals or plain residents. Eight out of 10 would give you a mouthful about this wonderful man and his cockamamie schemes.
The problem with Bayani Fernando is that he is widely perceived to be an elitist, antipoor bureaucrat. The last thing that President Arroyo needs is one who has this antipopulist image. She can never go wrong by heeding the public's pulse on this issue.
Madam President, sack Fernando now and watch that satisfaction rating rise.
And why is it that while her nationwide popularity rating has been consistently poor (or in negative territory), that of her Cabinet members are not as dismal?
I am told that President Arroyo herself has been seeking answers to these questions. It is not true, as her spokesmen would want us to believe, that she remains stoical and unperturbed by her poor showing in the noncommissioned quarterly surveys being conducted by the SWS. This is according to a close friend who happens to be the chief of staff of a Cabinet member (who would probably wring my neck if I reveal his name).
My friend a poker buddy who generally prefers to play it close to his chest, finally loosened up the other evening as I treated him to a drink of single malt whiskey.
He recounted that in a recent Cabinet meeting (as 2008 drew to a close), President Arroyo—who was visibly agitated and in a foul mood—bluntly asked why most of them were smelling like a rose in the surveys while her own rating remained in the doldrums.
After a few seconds of silence, so my friend's story goes, one Cabinet member (his boss) stood up, cleared his throat and said: "With all due respect to my colleagues in the Cabinet, Madam President, I'd like to point out that most of us have been crowing about our individual accomplishments without giving credit to the President. For my part, I always make it a point to say you ordered me to do this or that.... The problem is many of us here tend to make self- centered statements.... For example, there is Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metro Manila Development Authority [MMDA] who carries on as if Malacañang does not exist. All his posters, public statements are all about him and him alone.... Then there is Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, who makes it seem that all of the government's efforts to promote social welfare would not have been possible without her leadership...."
(In the case of Chairman Fernando, if I may interject, President Arroyo is definitely better off without getting any credit for Fernando's various crazy projects in the metropolis. She might end up taking all the blame for all the inconveniences the MMDA has inflicted on Metro Manila residents.)
It was at this point, my friend recalled , that MMDA Chairman Fernando cried out in protest, but the President stopped him: "Tama ka na, Bayani!"
Mrs. Arroyo then turned to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and directed him to closely monitor all public statements and pronouncements, and to call their attention whenever they forget to give credit where it is due.
(Ermita by the way, is the officially designated spokesman of the President, not Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, who only presumes he is also Mrs. Arroyo's spokesman.)
But if I were in President Arroyo's place, I would worry—first of all—about the worsening level of public dissatisfaction over my performance in the Metro Manila area. The survey figures are shockingly bad in Metro Manila where Fernando has held sway for six years now. Here's the SWS finding:
"Dissatisfaction with the President worsened in Metro Manila, but was offset by the lessening dissatisfaction in the rest of Luzon." The basis for this conclusion were the following figures:
In. the last quarterly survey (November 28 to December 1,2008), net satisfaction with President Arroyo became more negative in Metro Manila, at a negative 45 percent (19 percent satisfied, 65 percent dissatisfied, correctly rounded), from a bad negative 36 percent (21 percent satisfied against 58 percent dissatisfied, correctly rounded) in September.
In other words, President Arroyo's Metro Manila net satisfaction rating of negative 45 percent is almost double that of the national average, which is only at negative 24 percent (29 percent satisfied, 53 percent dissatisfied). This means that if the rest of the country is grumbling, nearly half of the adults in Metro Manila must be boiling mad. This means, if her rating is "poor" in the rest of the country, it is "very bad" in Metro Manila, using the accepted SWS terminology on satisfaction ratings.
Am I suggesting that President Arroyo's increasing unpopularity in the Metro Manila area is largely the fault of Bayani Fernando, MMDA chairman? You bet I am.
Much of the public resentment in Metro Manila against the Arroyo administration, I believe, has been exacerbated by Femando's imperious, heavy-handed style of dealing with the Metro Manila public. It seems that anywhere you go in the metropolis, one can hear nothing but derision for this bureaucrat whom the public cannot even vote out of office. Ask anybody in the metropolis randomly. Ask the public utility drivers, pedestrians, motorists, vendors, students, professionals or plain residents. Eight out of 10 would give you a mouthful about this wonderful man and his cockamamie schemes.
The problem with Bayani Fernando is that he is widely perceived to be an elitist, antipoor bureaucrat. The last thing that President Arroyo needs is one who has this antipopulist image. She can never go wrong by heeding the public's pulse on this issue.
Madam President, sack Fernando now and watch that satisfaction rating rise.
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