by CHITO VISARRA

Less than twelve months before their six year term ends, Boholanos gave President Benigno Aquino, lll and Vice President Jejomar Binay an average 31 points downgrade of their satisfaction rating of the nation’s two top officials.

The Holy Name University (HNU) Center for Research and Publications released the results of the Bohol Poll 2015 conducted on March 26 to April 17, 2015 showing Aquino’s net satisfaction rating taking a plunge of 24 points from +67 to +43.

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s net satisfaction rating also took a nosedive by 39 points from +71 to +32 in the same survey with a total sample size of 400 Boholano voters representing  the entire province as respondents.

Maria Paz Jimenez-Espiritu, Project Manager of Bohol Poll 2015 that based on the Social Weather Stations (SWS) terminology for Net Satisfaction Ratings a +30 to +69 rating is considered “good” while +10 to +29 is “moderate”.

According to the survey results six out of ten (63%) of Boholano voters were satisfied with Aquino’s performance while two out of ten (20%) were not satisfied with the 2nd District giving the President a relatively high net satisfaction rating at  +58 points.

Majority of the Boholano voters (54%) expressed satisfaction with the Vice President’s performance while a plurality (22%) were dissatisfied with the 2nd District giving Binay a relatively high net satisfaction of +57.

2nd District voters/respondents under Congressman Aristotle Aumentado gave consistent high net satisfaction rating to Aquino and Binay.

The Bohol Poll 2015  “good” results was a grade higher compared to the SWS 1st quarter survey fielded from March 20-23, 2015 on the net satisfaction rating of PNoy that fell to “moderate” +11 which is a “28 point decline, and one grade down from the “good” +39 in December, 2014″.

Compared to the Bohol Poll result of 39 points downgrade, Binay’s satisfaction rating also went down by 13 points from +44 on December, 2014 but was still considered “good” at 31, according to an SWS 2015 1st quarter survey conducted on March 20-23, 2015.

The HNU Bohol Poll also took the pulse of the Boholano voters/respondents on the Mamasapano tragedy that took the lives of 44 PNP Special Action Force members with an overwhelming majority (96%) aware of the incident compared to 70% national “high public attention” to news of the incident.

The Bohol Poll said that a quarter (74%) believed that Aquino is accountable for what happened to the members of the PNP Special Action Force clash with members of the Moro Islamic Freedom Fighters (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25, 2015.

The survey results also showed that eight out of ten (81%) Boholano voters believed that Aquino, as commander-in-chief should make a public apology for the incident while only 19% thought that the President doesn’t need to make a public apology since he admitted his lapses in the bloody incident.

No survey was conducted by the HNU Bohol Poll on the perception of Boholano voters on the Senate hearings on allegations of corruption against Binay during his term as Makati mayor.

The Bohol Poll under the HNU Center for Research and Publications is the first locally-based institution to conduct local public opinion polling and was initially funded in 1997 by the USAID through the GOLD project of the Associates in Rural Development (ARD) with technical assistance from the SWS. (CMV)