T / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) – Supreme Court Chief Justice on-leave Maria Lourdes Sereno suffered a dip in her net satisfaction ratings as she falls to a personal “record-low” of a negative seven “neutral” rating this first quarter, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
Sereno’s ratings had a “double digit decline” in the March 2018 survey, down by 13 points from the +6 rating which she had in December 2017.
This is already 6 points below her previous record-low of neutral -1 in December 2015, the SWS said.
The March 2018 Social Weather Survey was conducted from March 23-27, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide.
The SWS interviewed 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with a sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The period covered the time when Sereno was in the news after the House justice panel had decided that there were “probable cause to impeach” her, and after the Supreme Court had set for oral arguments the quo warranto case filed against her by the Office of the Solicitor General.
The SWS survey was also conducted after the House Committee on Justice found that all four grounds for impeachment were present in the complaint against Sereno. These are culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption and other high crimes.
Sereno, who was on leave since March 1, had also since been touring various universities and provinces to speak out against the impeachment proceedings against her in the House justice committee, and against the quo warranto proceedings before the Supreme Court.
But her speaking engagements did not prevent her ratings from sliding down.
The SWS said that the 13-point decline in Chief Justice Sereno’s overall net satisfaction rating was due to decreases of 27 points in Mindanao, 13 points in the Visayas, 11 points in Balance Luzon, and 3 points in Metro Manila.
“The Chief Justice’s net satisfaction rating stayed neutral but had a double-digit decline in Balance Luzon, at -2 in March 2018, down by 11 points from +9 in December 2017,” the SWS said.
It also “fell by one grade from neutral to poor in Mindanao, at -22 in March 2018, down by 27 points from +5 in December 2017.”
Sereno’s ratings also fell by one grade from neutral to poor in Metro Manila, at -10 in March 2018, down by 3 points from -7 in December 2017.
It fell by one grade from moderate to neutral in the Visayas, at -1 in March 2018, down by 13 points from +12 in December 2017, the SWS added.
-Dissatisfaction among almost all sectors-
The drop in Sereno’s net satisfactions ratings from December 17 to March 2018 occurred in “overall urban areas” from the previous neutral +3 to a poor -11.
Her ratings also dipped among males who were surveyed, from a neutral +7 in December 2017 to a poor rating of ¬-15 this March.
Her ratings also suffered among 18-24 year olds (down by two grades from good +30 to neutral +3), among 35-44 year olds (down from neutral -2 to poor -13), among 45-54 year olds (down from moderate +11 to neutral -9), and among college graduates (down from neutral +1 to poor -17).
“It stayed neutral but had double-digit declines in rural areas (down by 13 points from +9 to -4), among class ABCs (down by 17 points from +8 to -9), among class Ds (down by 16 points from +7 to -9), among 55 year olds and above (down by 13 points from +6 to -7), and among high school graduates (down by 17 points from +9 to -8),” the SWS report said.
The SWS area estimates were weighted by Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2018 to obtain the national estimates.
The quarterly Social Weather Surveys on public satisfaction with the public officials such as the Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are not commissioned. They are done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service.
(Eagle News Service)