47% in poll say Corona guilty

Close to five in every 10 adult Filipinos have found Chief Justice Renato Corona guilty even if a majority of them have little or no knowledge of the impeachment case against him, results of a Pulse Asia survey released on Tuesday showed.

The nationwide survey was conducted from Feb. 26 to March 9 before lawyers of Corona started presenting their evidence in the Senate impeachment court.

Of the 1,200 respondents, 47 percent said Corona was guilty while 43 percent were undecided. Only 5 percent believed Corona was innocent. Another 5 percent said they didn’t have enough basis to make a decision.

The noncommissioned survey used face-to-face interviews and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points at the 95-percent confidence level. Estimates for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 6 percentage points.

Sixty-six percent of the respondents who said Corona was guilty formed their opinion in the course of the impeachment trial, while 34 percent said their opinion was formed even before the trial began.

Among the regions, Mindanao accounted for the biggest percentage of respondents (54 percent) who found Corona guilty. Corona was also found guilty by the majority of those in the socioeconomic class ABC (52 percent).

Half of the respondents in Metro Manila said the Chief Justice was guilty. The same opinion was shared by 48 percent of the respondents in Luzon outside the metropolis, 37 percent in the Visayas, 48 percent among Class D and 45 percent among Class E.

When broken down, those who said Corona was innocent were as follows: 1 percent among Class ABC; 3 percent among Class E and in the rest of Luzon; 4 percent in Metro Manila and the Visayas; 6 percent among Class D and 9 percent in Mindanao.

Those who could not say whether Corona was guilty ranged from 31 percent to 48 percent across all geographic areas and socioeconomic classes.

Fair verdict expected

The poll also found that a majority of the respondents (69 percent) trusted the Senate impeachment court to hand down a fair verdict.

Fifty-eight percent said they would respect and accept whatever the Senate verdict would be, while 34 percent said most Filipinos would respect or accept only the decision they liked.

Little knowledge

Asked to describe their knowledge of the impeachment case, 56 percent said they had “a little knowledge,” 11 percent said “almost none or no knowledge at all.”

Only 8 percent said they had “a great deal of knowledge” and 24 percent had “a sufficient amount” of knowledge.

Sources of info

Most Filipinos (84 percent) were following updates on the trial.

Eighty percent said they were following developments through television and 12 percent through radio.

Only 4 percent were getting their information about the trial from newspapers and 1 percent from the Internet.

Public opinion is split on the accusation that members of the House of Representatives fast-tracked the process of the impeachment, with 32 percent saying they agree, 38 percent saying they disagree and 29 percent saying they were undecided.

The House collected 188 signatures, or more than one-third of its members on Dec. 12 last year. The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate the next day and the trial started on Jan. 16.

Pulse Asia noted that the prosecution panel rested its case against Corona on Feb. 28 and that by the time the fieldwork for the survey was completed, the impeachment court had gone on recess. It resumed on March 12 for the defense presentation.  Ana Roa, Inquirer Research