Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won the support of 49 percent Filipinos, who saidshe did well during her first 100 days in office as the nationalleader, according to a recent survey.

Arroyo got the nod of 49 percent of the 2,400 Filipinos surveyed by the firms, giving her a positive 8 percent net performance rating, the Philippines News Agency reported Monday, quoting survey results.

During the second quarter of 2004, Arroyo was given a positive 26 percent net performance rating by the survey results of the Social Weather Station.

Arroyo's ratings are fair, considering the string of crises thecountry currently face, said Ed Tayao, director of the Center For Issues and Advocacy which made the survey with Data Advisors, Inc and Proberz Consultancy.

"Considering that President Arroyo has just started her full six-year term, she was rated fairly good in her efforts in addressing her own 10-point agenda earning an average of +6 percent," he said.

On the items in her 10-point agenda, the public said she is "doing good" in jobs creation; the decentralization of progress around the nation, the physical and digital infrastructures; provision of electricity and water supplies nationwide; the development of Clark and Subic as the best international service and logistics centers in Luzon; and the just end to the peace process among others.

Eighty percent of the respondents agreed that widespread corruption still exists in the government, where the Government Service Insurance System was perceived to be the most corrupt, thesurvey showed.

The survey also revealed that an overwhelming majority of the 2,400 respondents frowned on the government's plans to impose new taxes.

The survey was conducted with person-to-person interviews of adult and registered voters in the sample areas from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5 with a skip interval of 4 to 5 houses in between to avoid any statistical bias.

Source: Xinhua