"The overall public image of the House also benefited from Cayetano's leadership."
"The overall public image of the House also benefited from Cayetano's leadership."
The latest Pulse Asia survey conducted Dec. 3 to 8 shows Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's performance and trust ratings rising to unprecedented levels. His approval rating increased to 80 percent, up by 16 percentage points from 64 percent in September, while his trust rating stood at 76 percent, or an increase from 62 percent in the previous quarter.
What the survey results show very clearly is that Cayetano has effectively fended off allegations that the House of Representatives passed a 2020 national budget riddled with pork barrel funds and criticisms about the initial snags during the 30th SEA Games. He has emerged even stronger with high performance and trust ratings.
His fellow lawmakers marvel at how Cayetano has pulled this off since this is the first time that a Speaker’s performance obtained the approval of eight out of 10 Filipinos.
The overall public image of the House also benefited from Cayetano’s leadership, as its performance rating also jumped to 66 percent in the December survey from 60 percent in the third quarter.
Despite the many accusations thrown his way, Cayetano has remained focused on his work as Speaker. He is known as a workaholic, reporting for duty even on non-session days and on weekends, with some days extending even to the early morning hours.
This work ethic allowed the House to approve 2020 national budget in record time. Cayetano stoutly maintains that the House-approved budget has no pork, illegal insertions or "parked" funds.
Under his leadership, the House was also able to approve key tax reform measures prioritized by the Duterte administration, including the Corporate Tax Reform and Incentive Rationalization Act or CITIRA, the bill increasing taxes on alcohol and e-cigarettes to help fund the Universal Health Care program, the measure creating Malasakit centers throughout the country, and the new salary standardization plan for state workers.
The Speaker appears to have also inspired his fellow lawmakers to work hard enough to get these priority measures approved by the House before yearend.
These accomplishments apparently did not go unnoticed by the public, who clearly expressed their approval of his work ethic and effective leadership in the latest survey.
The survey results also reflect the realization by the public that the House has delivered in a big way in its job of crafting laws needed to achieve political stability, sound economic growth and social development.
Cayetano's leadership style is marked by utmost transparency to show the public what he and his fellow lawmakers have been doing and have accomplished in Congress. He regularly posts live updates of his activities in and out of Congress in his Facebook page, which now has over 3.2 million followers.
Several Cabinet officials, among them Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, has attributed President Duterte’s high ratings to the declining poverty rate and the euphoria over the recently concluded SEA Games in the country.
Cayetano is the man behind the SEA Games’ spectacular success. But critics nevertheless threw everything at him, including the kitchen sink, over his chairmanship of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC). His detractors alleged that there were overpriced purchases, a P50-million games cauldron, and illegal transfer of public funds to PHISGOC. But these allegations did not hold water, if we're to go by the results of the Pulse Asia survey.
The Speaker's fellow legislators are glad because his high ratings and positive image are shining a light on them, as shown by the improved ratings of the House. But his accomplishments at the helm of the House could all go to waste if he is replaced by a term-sharing deal that a wanna-be Speaker hopes would be affirmed by the members and even by President Duterte himself by June next year.
The House Speaker is the fourth person in the line of succession to the presidency. It stands to reason that whoever should occupy such eminent position should have impressive credentials, ample legislative experience and sterling leadership qualities. With the image of the House of Representatives already starting to vastly improve based on the latest Pulse Asia survey, it would be a pity if this is irremediably reversed by a leadership change that would reward mediocrity rather than excellence, and give high marks to one's political and economic connections rather than solid accomplishments in legislation.
ernhil@yahoo.com
