20% of Pinoys believe cronyism still ‘very serious’

MANILA, Philippines - One out of five Filipinos thinks that cronyism is still “very serious” under the Aquino administration, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS poll, which was conducted from March 27 to 30, found 20 percent of Filipino adults who claimed that cronyism is “very serious” and unchanged from March 2012, up by a point from 19 percent in November 2010.

The SWS said cronies are those who use their friendship with the President to enrich themselves in improper ways.

Meanwhile, 40 percent of respondents said cronyism was “somewhat serious,” up from 37 percent in March 2012.

Seventeen percent said it was “a little serious” and 22 percent said it was “hardly serious.”

In Metro Manila, 22 percent believe that cronyism is “very serious” under the Aquino administration, “barely changed” from 22 percent in 2012 and 21 percent in 2010.

In balance Luzon, 21 percent think that cronyism is “very serious,” from 22 percent in 2012 and 16 percent in 2010.

It was 18 percent in the Visayas, from 13 percent in 2012 and 22 percent in 2010.

In Mindanao, it “hardly changed” at 20 percent, from 22 percent in 2012 and 19 percent in 2010.

Results of the SWS poll were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages.

The SWS said the public’s perception of cronyism in the present administration had no correlation with their satisfaction with the performance of Aquino.

Earlier, the SWS reported that the President’s net satisfaction rating in the first quarter of 2014 dropped to +45 from +49 in September and December last year.

The SWS first started asking the question of cronyism in September 1999 during the term of then President Joseph Estrada.