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SEN. Antonio Trillanes must have misread what media have been
reporting as demonstration fatigue or some such thing. Over the last
three years there has been a consistently unsuccessful bid by
certain sectors of the country to build up a feeling of hate and
frustration in the people to make them go out into the streets for
another EDSA revolution.
The failure to put together a critical mass of
critical people is ironic despite the fact that those who want
change believed that there were more valid reasons to do so than
there were in EDSA 1 and EDSA 2. Certainly there should be more warm
bodies to bolster demonstrations. Now Trillanes knows.
Have the Filipinos suddenly turned lukewarm
towards stopping corruption, the current battle cry? Is it because
the favorable stories about the national economic performance has
actually convinced people that things are not quite so bad as these
are pictured in the media?
This is probably why many are putting their own
spins on Pulse Asia survey saying that Filipinos expected a happy
Christmas last month. Indeed some suggest that Filipinos don’t
really know what happiness is or that they measure happiness in
terms of companionship rather than material possessions
What is significant is that the proportion of
Filipinos expecting a happy Christmas was unchanged from 2004 to
2007. It was 64 percent in 2004 and 62 percent in 2005. The two
percent drop in 2005 was within the standard 3 percent plus or minus
margin of error. In 2004, the country was rocked with charges that
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stole the election. The following
years were marked by fierce attacks against the supposed corruption
in her administration.
Of course, there were also positive stories
about the economy but this shouldn’t mean anything to the masses
because whatever benefits have not filtered down to the masses.
Last year, the ZTE National Broadband Network
scandal was one of the most virulent, pitting the son of Speaker
Jose de Venecia against Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin
Abalos and former National Economic Development Authority Chairman
Romulo Neri.
But a survey on the perception of who is the
most corrupt president of the country could have told on the public.
The results said that President Arroyo was the most corrupt ever.
The survey had no effect on the sense of
happiness of the people. It could be because the Pulse Asia survey
was commissioned by a leader of the opposition or the way it was
undertaken was questionable.
The head of the social science department of the
University of Santo Tomas, Dr. Emmanuel J. Lopez, has issued a
statement doubting the validity of the results. He said,
“Webster’s Dictionary defines survey as to examine a condition,
situation, or value: to query (someone) in order to collect data for
the analysis of some aspect of a group or area. Further, to view or
consider comprehensively.
“Pulse Asia, a few days back states that
Filipinos believe that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the most
corrupt leader the Philippines ever had, worse than the late
dictator Ferdinand Marcos who ruled the country for more than 20
years. The survey, conducted in late October, said that 42 percent
of the 1200 respondents nationwide tagged the 60-year-old economist
as ‘the most corrupt (president) in the history of the
Philippines.” (Asia World, Dec. 13)
“On record, we have yet to see the derailed
components of the survey instrument, the sampling procedure, the
universe versus the sample size per area and of course the sample in
itself which includes the quality of samples. Indicative of the
doubts that envelops the result of the survey is the fact that an
opposition leader funded the study. Although we don’t doubt the
integrity of the survey firm, studies would normally comply with the
whims and standards of the funding personality or agency.
“Furthermore, we don’t doubt the empirical
nature of the outcome but we have yet to see the quality of the
respondents. This definitely affects the outcome considering that it
normally conforms to the objectives that is propounded by the
funding personality. Although not stated, the identity of the funder
speaks of the anticipated outcome of the study.
“The timing of the survey is suspicious. It
was done at a time when a bloodthirsty Senate, predominantly
opposition, was conducting an investigation on new corruption
charges against the executive branch. To borrow Webster’s
definition, to survey is to query in order to collect data or the
analysis of some aspect of a group or area.”
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