THREE out of four residents in Metro Manila distrust President Arroyo due to the controversial $329 million national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., the Feb. 21-24 survey of Pulse Asia showed.

The survey said two out of three Metro Manilans (65 percent) find Senate ZTE witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. credible.

The survey, which had 1,200 respondents, showed 97 percent are aware of the ZTE issue with 96 percent saying they got to know of Lozada’s testimony because of the media.

Pulse Asia placed Arroyo’s disapproval rating at 71 percent in February 2008 from 51 percent in October 2007. Her distrust rating was 76 percent from 54 percent in October 2007.

This means Arroyo’s net performance rating in Metro Manila went down from -30 (21 percent approve vs. 51 percent disapprove) in October 2007 to -60 (11 percent approve vs. 71 percent disapprove) in February 2008.

The President’s net trust rating also almost doubled from -36 (18 percent big trust vs. 54 small/no percent trust) in October to -70 (6 percent trust vs. 76 small/no trust) in February.

Her net approval rating suffered the most among the poorest or Class E with -75 (5 percent approve vs. 80 percent disapprove), followed by Class D with -62 (9 percent approve vs. 73 percent disapprove), and the rich Class ABC with -48 (16 percent approve vs. 64 percent disapprove).

Last October, Arroyo’s net approval ratings were -27 for Class ABC, -24 for Class D, and -50 for Class E.

In February, net distrust for Arroyo was at -78 for Class E (5 percent big trust vs. 83 percent small/no trust), -75 for Class D (5 percent big trust vs. 80 percent small/no trust), and -59 for Class ABC (9 percent big trust vs. 68 percent small/no trust). In October 2007, her net trust rating was -32 for Class ABC, -37 for Class D, and -40 for Class ABC.

Of the 96 percent who are aware of Lozada’s testimony, 65 percent find him credible. Only 8 percent believe business Jose de Venecia III credible while only 2 percent think former Elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. and acting Higher Education chair Romulo Neri are credible. Twenty-two percent said "they’re all equally not believable."

Among the key figures of the ZTE deal, only Lozada got a positive net trust rating of 35 (52 big trust vs. 17 percent small/no trust). Twenty- nine percent are undecided as to whether he could be trusted.

Most Filipinos (42 percent) are undecided on whether to trust De Venecia, giving him a net trust rating of only -2 (27 percent big trust vs. 29 percent small/no trust).

The net trust ratings of the other officials allegedly involved in the NBN-ZTE deal are as follows: President Arroyo, -70 (6 percent big trust vs. 76 percent small/no trust); First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, -69 (7 percent big trust vs. 76 percent small/no trust); Abalos, -62 (7 percent big trust vs. 69 small/no trust); and Neri, -48 (9 percent big trust vs. 57 percent small/no trust).

The senators who benefited from the ZTE hearings were Francis Escudero, Ma. Ana Consuelo Madrigal, and Jinggoy Estrada. Their net ratings rose in February 2008 compared to October 2007.

Escudero’s net performance rating rose from 77 (83 percent approve vs. 6 percent disapprove) to 78 (83 percent approve vs. 5 percent disapprove), Madrigal’s rose from 47 (60 percent approve vs. 47 percent disapprove) to 53 (66 percent approve vs. 13 disapprove), and Estrada’s from 42 (58 percent approve vs. 16 percent disapprove) to 52 (65 percent approve vs. 13 percent disapprove).