Sin’s public trust rating averaged 53%

Over half of adult Filipinos put their trust in the late Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, according to 22 opinion polls conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from 1992 to 2003.

From 1986 to 1991, the SWS said it had asked many questions about the Roman Catholic Church as an institution, but none about Sin personally.

"Public opinion about the Church tended, on balance, to be somewhat opposed to its involvement in political matters, particularly elections," the SWS said.

Between April 1992 and September 2000, the SWS surveys found public trust in Sin as a person to be high, ranging from 48 percent to 69 percent. His net trust rating — subtracting the percentage of respondents who distrusted Sin from those who trusted him — ranged between 22 and 56 percentage points.

In December 2000 and early January 2001, when then President Joseph Estrada was undergoing an impeachment trial at the Senate, the SWS surveys found that the public’s trust in Sin became mixed.

His net trust rating went down to negative two percentage points by December 2000, with 37 percent of respondents trusting him and another 39 percent distrusting the prelate.

Sin’s net trust rating crept up to zero percentage points in Jan. 6 to 9, 2001, which indicated "roughly equal proportions of trust and mistrust in him at that time."

After Estrada was ousted, Sin’s net trust rating recovered significantly to 14 percentage points from Jan. 27 to 29, 2001 and to 19 percentage points from Feb. 2 to 7 of the same year.

However, Sin’s net trust rating plummeted to single digits in the SWS surveys for Feb. 22 to 26, 2001 (two percentage points), May 2001 (seven percentage points) and May 2002 (eight percentage points), "showing controversial opinions about him."

Since President Arroyo succeeded Estrada, the percentage of respondents who trusted Sin hovered between 36 percent in May 2002 and 50 percent from Feb. 2 to 7, 2001.

Sin’s name was last included in an SWS survey conducted in June 2003, which found 53 percent of respondents trusting him and 25 percent distrusting him. His final net trust rating was at 28 percentage points, "close to the average regard for the Cardinal over the last 13 years," according to the SWS.

Some of the SWS surveys were specially sponsored by ABS-CBN, Bigkis Pinoy, and the People Power Coalition. Other surveys were "supported by regular SWS subscribers."

The standard SWS survey has 1,200 respondents with an error margin of three percent at the 95 percent confidence level for national-level percentages.