Press Release
April 21, 2014

Drilon welcomes increased trust and approval ratings

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today welcomed the latest Pulse Asia survey showing the steady return of public approval and trust to his office, while vowing to step up ongoing efforts that would "rightfully restore the people's trust and respect to the honored halls of the Senate."

"I am happy that our countrymen are beginning to recognize our efforts to win back the confidence and trust of our people in their lawmakers and in the institution, in general, which undeniably had severely eroded due to the pork barrel scam controversy," said Drilon.

"The pork barrel scam controversy was the biggest challenge we had to face shortly after I assumed the position of the Senate President in 2013. Considering the enormity of people's outburst and anger towards their lawmakers, the task of regaining the confidence was extremely hard. But we rose to the challenge by ensuring reforms and definite actions would be in place and these have vindicated us, gradually endearing ourselves again to our people," he added.

He cited as the biggest reform the Senate had undertaken in 2013 the abolition of the pork barrel even before the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

The most recent poll conducted by Pulse Asia Survey showed that the public approval and performance rating for the Senate leader has climbed back to 58 percent, after his approval ratings moved down to 43 percent in December 2013 from 50 percent in September 2013.

The survey also shows a modest decrease in the number of Filipinos who showed disapproval towards Drilon from 21 percent in December 2013 to 18 percent in March 2014. Those who were "undecided" regarding Drilon's performance as the leading lawmaker of the land also decreased by 2 percent from 25 percent last December to 23 percent this March.

Drilon's public trust ratings have also made a comeback - rising from 40 percent last December to 55 percent today, even surpassing his initial rating shortly after he assumed Senate Presidency pegged at 46 percent in September 2013.

Distrust ratings for the senator went down to 18 percent from 21 percent last December, with undecided ratings going down to 26 percent from the previous 39 percent.

Drilon said he is immensely grateful to the Filipino people, saying that the results confirm that the "public has acknowledged the concrete actions we have taken in terms of advancing national development, aiding the poor, promoting justice, eliminating corruption, and establishing transparency through effective legislation and national policies."

"My previous ratings were affected by political attacks against me, and as well as the understandable wave of public disaffection to their leaders during the outbreak of the pork barrel scam. But as we can see here, the public knows who are working with them and for their cause," the lawmaker explained. Drilon is firm however, that public trust is never earned so lightly: "As Senate President, I recognize the gravity of the undertakings we must do to earn back the favor of our citizenry, and we intend to deliver the necessary reforms and actions, no matter the cost, or how difficult it may be."

He thus vowed to work harder to restore the people's trust in the Senate which had been critically affected by the pork barrel scam controversy.

The most recent study conducted by Pulse Asia Survey show that the Senate's overall public perception of performance and public awareness rating has been pegged at 41 percent - not far from the 45 percent performance rating given by the public to the institution last December. The Senate chief also appealed to his fellow lawmakers to bolster their efforts in winning back the people's trust by better legislative performance.

Drilon detailed how the Senate is gearing up to work on "a priority list of measures that would improve the lives and economic welfare of our people, and those that would improve the system of governance and eliminate corruption and abuse of power from the national bureaucracy."

'We in Congress are set to work on measures such as the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the Freedom of Information Act, along with laws that would reinforce the government's arsenal of anti-corruption measures such as the amendments to the Sandiganbayan Law in order to speed up the disposition of cases in the anti-graft court, the Whistle Blowers Protection act and amendment to the Witness Protection Program" he said.

He likewise pointed to several measures that would pumprime the economy such as the amendments to the BOT Law, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Cabotage Law, EPIRA, and the Fiscal Incentive Rationalization Act, the Rationalization of Mining Revenues.

"We have to remember that economic progress is only good if it leads to improved social and economic conditions for the citizenry. We have made sure that while we are striving for policies that focus on long-term macroeconomic gains, there even stronger efforts to uplift depressed sectors, and uphold the financial interests of the everyday Filipino," Drilon said.

He then pointed to measures in the priority list calling for a Consumer Protection Act, an Anti-Trust Act, and the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises as development institutions across the country, as well as the student loan program and the institutionalization and promotion of open high school system and distance education in the country.

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