Almost every Filipino believes that corruption in the government is widespread, while the majority also think it is a ‘normal’ part of the country’s politics, a recent survey by Pulse Asia found.
Pulse Asia’s survey, held from September 27 to 30 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adult Filipinos, found that 97 percent of respondents believe that corruption is widespread.
This survey came almost a week after the massive and simultaneous September 21 anti-corruption protests nationwide, triggered by the multi-billion peso corruption scandal involving flood control projects.
‘Agreement with the view that corruption is widespread in government is essentially universal,’ Pulse Asia said in a statement.
Pulse Asia asked the question: ‘In your opinion, how widespread is corruption in government in the country today?’
Of the 97 percent of respondents who responded that it is ‘widespread,’ a vast majority, or 78 percent, even said it is ‘very widespread,’ while only 20 percent said it is ‘somewhat widespread.’
Only two percent of responders can’t say if it’s widespread or not, while the remaining percentage said it is not widespread.
Corruption ‘normal’
The majority of the respondents believe that corruption in the government is just normal.
Pulse Asia asked respondents if they agree with the statement that: ‘Corruption is a normal part of politics in our country.’
To this statement, 59 percent of respondents said they agree, with 31 percent of them saying they ‘strongly agree,’ while 28 percent ‘somewhat agree.’
On the other hand, 30 percent disagreed, with 17 percent ‘somewhat disagree’ while 13 percent said they ‘strongly disagree.’
Eleven percent cannot say if they agree or disagree with this statement.
Majority believes corruption went up
A vast majority of Filipinos believe that corruption in the government has increased in the past 12 months, at 85 percent.
On the other hand, 12 percent of responders believed it has remained the same, while only three percent said it has actually decreased. /jpv/abc