Filipinos aware, but many don’t understand, pork scam – Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines – It’s an issue everyone knows about, but not fully understood by many.

Nine out of 10 Filipinos are aware of the personalities involved in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, but a large portion of the population admit to know little about it, Pulse Asia Research revealed in a new survey released Thursday, August 12.

The results of the survey conducted June 24 to July 2 also showed that public opinion is split on the believability of the involvement of the people in the pork barrel scam

The survey results showed 90% of Filipinos have “heard, read or watched something about the different lists coming from Ms Janet Lim Napoles and Mr Benhur Luy which identify the personalities who are allegedly involved in the misuse of the PDAF of several lawmakers.”

Awareness about the issue is highest in the National Capital Region (NCR) (93%), followed by Mindanao (91%), Visayas (89%), and Luzon (88%).

However, a plurality of Filipinos say they only know little about the hot topic: the survey revealed 56% of respondents admit having “little or no knowledge at all” about details of the issue.

Visayas registered the highest percentage of people who admitted knowing little about the topic, at 60%, followed by Luzon (58%), Mindanao (53%), and NCR (47%).

Among the various social classes, people from Class D had the highest percentage of people knowing little about the pork barrel scam (57%), followed by Class E (54%), and Classes ABC (51%).

Only 32% of Filipinos say they have sufficient knowledge of the PDAF lists, and from this, 12% say they have a great deal of knowledge. On the opposite side, 12% say they have “no knowledge” at all about it.

Split on believability

The survey also revealed that public opinion is split on the believability of the involvement of the people in the pork barrel scam, though it also showed that only 4% of Filipinos believe that none of the people in the Napoles and Benhur lists are involved in the biggest corruption case in recent Philippine history.

The survey results revealed 34% of respondents believe “some of the names” are “believably involved, while 30% say “most” of the names are “believably involved.”

On the other hand, 19% of total respondents say all of those named in the controversial lists are involved in the controversy. Only 4% believe none in the lists are involved.

Regarding the Senate investigation on the pork controversy, a majority of Filipinos say the probe is “unfair” – 53% saying it is unfair versus 30% saying it is fair.

This, the survey showed, was due to the perception that only non-allies of the administration are being probed and charged.

This sentiment is “echoed by majorities in the rest of Luzon (55%), Metro Manila (61%), and Classes ABC and D (64% and 53%, respectively),” Pulse Asia said.

Pulse Asia conducted the survey via face-to-face interviews, during the height of the filing of plunder and graft charges against some of the high-profile personalities involved in the PDAF scam case, where public funds allegedly were funneled into bogus non-governmental organizations for ghost projects.

The survey was also conducted at a time when the Supreme Court declared the some execution actions under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to be unconstitutional.

The nationwide survey is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults, with a +/-3% error margin at 95% confidence level.

The survey firm also said “no religious, political, economic, or partisan group” influenced the survey. – KD Suarez/Rappler.com