Poll: More Filipinos thought Corona guilty

Chief Justice Renato Corona. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

During the final stretch of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, nearly four of 10 Filipinos or 38 percent were undecided about his guilt, while 45 percent thought he was probably or definitely guilty, a Pulse Asia survey released Monday showed.

The Pulse Asia May 2012 Nationwide Survey was conducted from May 20 to 26, covering the testimony of Corona at his impeachment trial on May 22 and 25. The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults.

With a vote of 20-3, the Senate convicted Corona on May 29 of dishonesty in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Pulse Asia pointed out in its release  that all survey interviews had been completed by the time the impeachment court decided the case.

In the survey, Pulse Asia asked respondents if they would say Corona was “definitely innocent,” “probably innocent,” “probably guilty” or “definitely guilty” of the charges against him.

Respondents also had the option to say if they were “undecided” or “don’t have enough basis for somehow making a decision.”

No grounds for decision

Thirty percent of Filipinos thought Corona was “probably guilty” while 15 percent said he was “definitely guilty.” Three percent thought he was “probably innocent” while two percent said he was “definitely innocent.”

On the other hand, 12 percent said they did not have enough grounds to form a decision.

The survey also found that three  of four Filipinos, or 75 percent, monitored the trial on various media, down from 84 percent in March.

Pulse Asia noted a decrease in the percentage of those who followed the trial in the rest of Luzon (minus 16 percentage points) and Mindanao (minus 14 percentage points), as well as in Class D (minus 10 percentage points) between March and May.

But the pollster noted an increase in the percentage of those who monitored the trial in Metro Manila (plus 11 percentage points) during the same period.

Fewer kept abreast

Meanwhile, one out of four Filipinos, or 25 percent, admitted to not keeping abreast of the proceedings, up from 16 percent in March.

Despite the fact that majority of Filipinos monitored the impeachment trial, 48 percent said they had “a little knowledge” of the case, while 12 percent said they had “almost none or no knowledge at all.”

On the other hand, 29 percent said they had a “sufficient amount of knowledge” while 11 percent admitted to having “a great deal of knowledge” about the case.

The survey also found that majority of Filipinos expected the senator-judges to be fair in their decision (64 percent), as opposed to those who expected them to be biased (26 percent).

Moreover, majority of Filipinos or 60 percent said any decision by the Senate would be respected and accepted by the country, while 34 percent expected that Filipinos would “respect or accept only the decision that they like.”

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages, and plus or minus six percentage points for subnational percentages. Inquirer Research