Even though she has bent to "the people's will" paying ransoms for hostages and pulled workers out of Iraq, President Gloria Arroyo’s approval rating is at an all-time low of 38%. In addition the administrations approval rating on 11 out of 14 national issues have dropped to their lowest levels as well -- most in the 20-30% range.

Hmm, maybe it was because "the people's will" was really just a minority? Could it be that the Filipino's would rather stick by their allies rather than stab them in the back? Could it be the people of the Philippines would rather fight terror? It would seem so. Her approval rating was 55% in June and 41% in October. The payoff of a $6 million ransom for Angelo De La Cruz occurred in July.

Maybe her people don't approve of thing's like...

Security officials and analysts say the Abu Sayyaf has ties to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional network of terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is due to restart peace talks with the government next month.

... negotiating with terrorist groups who are blowing you up?

Could it be they're sick of nothing getting done and the declining economy? Sure, maybe President Arroyo isn't corrupt like the former President (Joseph Estrada or Marcos for that matter), but there's more to being President than not taking kickbacks. Things like getting your people out of poverty rather than leaving the majority of your country to live in squatters.

The people of the Philippines need a real FDR type who comes in and gets them out of the jam they've been in since WWII.

Manila Times

Her disapproval rating remained at 34 percent in March, the same level as in the October survey.

...

The survey ... also found approval ratings of less than 30 percent for the Arroyo administration in such priority areas as controlling inflation, reducing poverty, fighting corruption and rebuilding the economy.

Sixty percent of those surveyed in March said their lives had worsened in the past year while only 14 percent said things were better, Pulse Asia said.

Forty-five percent expected their lives to get harder in the coming year and only 20 percent said they thought things would be better.

...

On 10 of the issues, its approval rating was in the low 20-percent-to-29-percent range, with the lowest recorded in controlling the rising prices of basic goods.

Forty-five percent of the respondents believed the continued increase in the prices of basic commodities to be the issue that needed the most urgent attention.

The second most urgent is eradicating graft and corruption, 36 percent; increasing peace in the country, 35 percent; reducing poverty, 32 percent; economic recovery, 31 percent; increasing pay of workers, 30 percent; and curbing widespread criminality, 24 percent.

Tipped by: On The Third Hand