PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will not improve the chances of Manuel Roxas II winning the presidency even if he joins his anointed one’s political sorties because of the tight presidential race, an analyst said Friday.
“If the presidential endorsement power is already negative, there is not much that he can do,” Ramon Casiple of the Institute for Political and Economic Reform told The Standard in a text interview.
The ruling Liberal Party on Friday expressed confidence that the numbers of Roxas and his running mate, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, would soon surge as Aquino will be joining them in the campaign trail.
“The support of the President becomes the most crucial in a tight race like this,” Roxas’ spokesman Romero Quimbo said.
“It becomes even more significant when the outgoing president is a popular one, not a lame duck. P-Noy has the highest performance rating for an outgoing President in our history.”
Quimbo said Roxas’ numbers remained firm unlike his rivals for the presidency.
But Roxas is still trailing front runner Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay in the surveys.
And Casiple said Aquino’s own numbers were hurting Roxas’ chances for the presidency.
In the latest survey of the opinion polling firm Social Weather Stations this month, SWS said Aquino’s endorsement was proving to be a handicap to Roxas, his preferred successor.
In that survey, Aquino received a net figure of -6 percent nationwide when the respondents were asked how they would react to his endorsement. He scored -26 percent in Metro Manila and -10 percent in Luzon, but got a positive net effect of 4 percent in the Visayas and 3 percent in Mindanao.
The trust in Aquino also continued to fall as the Filipinos distrusted him than they did in May and September.
Across the country, the President’s trust rating was at a net 25 percent in December, down from 36 percent in May and 43 percent in September. Even the Mindanao figure was lower at net 45 percent, down from 53 percent in May and 61 percent in September.
In Metro Manila, the President eked out a trust rating of only 1 percent, a precipitous drop from 31 percent in May and 16 percent in September.
But the ruling Liberal Party said its machinery would make its candidates win.
“Millions of the Filipino families who benefited from the pro-poor programs of the Aquino administration” would ensure an “easy win” for Roxas and Robredo,” said LP spokesman Edgar Erice.