"Were respondents not aware of these things?"
The other day, I ran across an article printed in another paper stating according to an independent, “non-commissioned survey” conducted by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation, Inc., Quezon City Mayor Josefina “Joy” Belmonte has again emerged as the top-performing local chief executive in Metro Manila according to an independent, non-commissioned survey, besting Pasig City Mayor Regis Vico Sotto, who was recently honored by the US State Department for his anti-corruption initiatives and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.
According to RPMD Inc (I just can’t reconcile their corporate name with that of an opinion polling firm), the survey was conducted based on face-to-face interviews with 3,500 respondents, from Feb. 20-28, 2021 with respondents from 18 to 70 years old, registered voters and all residents of Metro Manila, who were asked to rate their respective mayors regarding overall job performance for the year 2020.
Dr. Paul Martinez of RPMD Inc. was even all praises for his firm’s top five Metro Manila Mayors, declaring they were all doing a great job as confirmed by the comments, given by the respondents like in Belmonte’s case—“innovations in reaching and addressing constituents’ concerns during pandemic, social and welfare services, ease in doing business and transactions at city hall, and (being a) hands-on mayor,” which made her the top NCR mayor.
And that’s where the problem lies. If Martinez is saying Belmonte emerged as the top performing mayor in Metro Manila because of her handling of her constituent’s concerns during the pandemic, etc., then maybe he, or the respondents he and his staff had interviewed, may be living in another world in another dimension.
If indeed Belmonte was successful in her handling of the pandemic, then there would have been absolutely no chance for Quezon City to emerge as topnotcher with regard to the number of COVID-19 cases—the country’s ground zero for the pandemic.
According to the Department of Health, Quezon City has accumulated a total of 46,842 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. As of March 11, Quezon City has 3,370 active cases, still the highest, with 2,729 cases in the last 14 days, again the highest in the land.
So, are the respondents not aware of this?
On the contrary, instead of being hailed as the top-performing mayor in Metro Manila, Belmonte should be asked to explain the discrepancy in the DoH’s COVID-19 figure for Quezon City as against the reporting of her administration.
The Quezon City COVID-19 website states that the city has 34,897 total cases since the pandemic began, with 2,317 cases still active. Both figures are lower than the DoH’s official tally.
And if this is a case of under-reporting just to show she is effectively handling the pandemic, then this is not helping. How can the situation be addressed if the people are being given a wrong ground situationer by no less than the local government? You can only offer a solution based on the report being given.
And under-reporting a problem could result in two things: First, Quezon City would not be prioritized in the assistance the national government would provide given the impression the local government is handling the situation well. And second, the people would become complacent, seeing the number of cases going down.
Belmonte should be made to explain this.
So, where does the recognition fit in?
Actually, there is also one detail in the survey result that I find hard to comprehend.
According to RPMD Inc., Belmonte received the highest approval rating among its residents at 86 percent. However, it added the respondents were also asked if they will vote or will not vote for their mayor if they will run for re-election and Belmonte only got 76 percent approval and voters’ preference.
So, what happened to the 10-percent differential? After deciding Belmonte was the best, they have opted not to vote for her?
My apologies to RPMD Inc., but everything just won’t jibe.