A MAJORITY or 53 percent of Filipinos consider the Senate investigation into the pork barrel scam to be “not fair” because “only those not allied with the current administration are being investigated and charged.”
In contrast, only 30 percent of Filipinos deem the Senate investigation to be “fair”.
Just as important, an overwhelming 90 percent of Filipinos said they are aware of the various lists of individuals reportedly involved in the scam even as only 44 percent admit knowing only a little about the issue.
And whether or not most or some of the names on the lists are believably involved in the scam is a question that drew a split opinion among Filipinos.
Almost the same percentages — 34 percent versus 30 percent — of Filipinos say that either most of the names included in the lists or only some of these names are believably involved in the pork barrel scam.
These are among the findings of the latest Ulat ng Bayan national survey that the creditable Pulse Asia Research, Inc. conducted from June 24 to July 2, 2014.
The nationwide survey is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above, with a ±3% percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
Prof. Ronald D. Holmes, Pulse Asia president, in a press advisory said that the subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) have a ±6 percent error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level.
The survey showed that nine in 10 Filipinos have “heard, read or watched something about the different lists” of lawmakers and other parties supposedly involved in the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.
Information about the lists had come from Janet Lim Napoles, the so-called “pork barrel scam queen”, as well as whistleblower Benhur Luy.
Pulse Asia said majority levels of awareness are recorded across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings (88% to 93% and 88% to 90%, respectively).
A high level of understanding or knowledge about the issue does not match this high level of awareness, however.
Pulse Asia said that “although most Filipinos report awareness of the issue, 44% of them say they know only a little about the matter — with big plurality to near majority figures being posted in Class ABC (44%), Class D (46%), the rest of Luzon (47%) and the Visayas (49%).”
In addition, “while 32% of Filipinos claim to have a sufficient amount of knowledge about the PDAF lists, 12% say that they have either a great deal of knowledge or no knowledge at all about the issue.”
According to Pulse Asia, a slight majority of the respondents judge the Senate investigation into the PDAF scam to be “not fair” because “only those not allied with the current administration are being investigated and charged.”
This sentiment prevailed among majorities of respondents in the rest of Luzon (55%), Metro Manila (61%), and Classes ABC and D (64% and 53%, respectively), Pulse Asia said.
It is a sentiment that also drew plurality opinion in Mindanao (46%), the Visayas (50%), and Class E (48%).
Only 30 percent of Filipinos see the investigation as fair, the survey said. “Levels of agreement with this view are generally constant across geographic areas and socio-economic classes (25% to 32% and 25% to 31%, respectively).”
Meanwhile, Pulse Asia said, “11% are ambivalent on the matter and 6% say they do not have sufficient knowledge to state an opinion about the fairness of the Senate’s PDAF scam investigation.”
Pulse Asia said its pool of academic fellows “takes full responsibility for the design and conduct of the survey, as well as for analyses it makes based on the survey data.”
“In keeping with our academic nature, no religious, political, economic, or partisan group influenced any of these processes,” it added.
Pulse Asia Research undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort.