MANILA, Philippines -- Just below half of all Filipinos -- 47 percent -- think Chief Justice Renato Corona is guilty of the charges against him but almost as many -- 43 percent -- have yet to make up their minds about him, the results of a recent Pulse Asia released on Tuesday showed.
However, only five percent of respondents to the survey conducted form February 26 to March 9 think the Chief Justice is innocent and, of this percentage, only one percent believes he is “definitely innocent.”
Most of those who think Corona is innocent are in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon and Mindanao and belong to Classes D and E, the survey showed.
Of those who think Corona guilty, only 15 percent are certain about his guilty while 33 percent see him as “probably guilty.
The survey also showed a high level of interest among Filipinos in Corona’s impeachment trial, with eight out of 10 saying they follow the proceedings.
But no matter how they feel about Corona, the majority of the respondents -- 69 percent -- said they expect the Senate to be fair and impartial in judging the case against the Chief Justice.
This sentiment prevailed across geographic areas and socio-economic groups.
Public opinion was also split on the question of whether the House of Representatives railroaded Corona’s impeachment, with 32 percent saying it did and 38 percent believing otherwise.
But in Metro Manila, almost 50% of the respondents believe the House fast-tracked the process.
The survey was conducted among 1,200 adult respondents and has a +/-3% error margin.
The prevailing issues at the time of the survey were Corona’s impeachment trial, the arraignment for electoral fraud of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the magnitude-6.9 earthquake that struck the Visayas, and the 26th anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising.
source: interaksyon.com
