Pulse Asia
{{Short description|Polling survey company in the Philippines}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Pulse Asia Research Inc.
| logo = Pulse Asia Research Inc logo.svg
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| type = Nonprofit organization
| founded = {{start date|1999}}
| founder = Felipe B. Miranda
| location_city = Quezon City
| location_country = Philippines
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| area_served = Philippines
| industry = Opinion polling
| operating_income =
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| homepage = {{URL|http://pulseasia.ph}}
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}}
Pulse Asia Research Inc. is a public opinion polling body in the Philippines. It was founded by Professor Emeritus Felipe B. Miranda (M.A. Political Science, University of Chicago) of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Pulse Asia Inc. was founded in 1999 as a for-profit private company. In 2013, the company re-formed into a nonprofit organization and changed their name to Pulse Asia Research Inc.
Ownership dispute
Starting in late 2009, Pulse Asia was accused of publishing biased or inaccurate polling, and of having close ties with Benigno Aquino III, who was elected President of the Philippines in June 2010. SEC documents and a research paper indicated that Rafael Cojuangco Lopa and Antonio "Tonyboy" Cojuangco, blood relatives of Aquino, were involved in the establishment of Pulse Asia as well as Social Weather Stations, another polling group. Senatorial candidate Francisco "Kit" Tatad claimed Aquino was using these connections to his advantage, stating, "This suggests that there was a plan from the beginning by the Aquinos to control public opinion polling in the country."
In October 2013, Pulse Asia issued a press release responding to these allegations. They stated that Cojuangco and Lopa were involved in establishing Pulse Asia in 1999, but were never involved in the research work of the organization, and no longer have shares in the company.
Survey firms as "state propaganda tools"
Political survey firms in the Philippines have invariably been accused of being politically biased, especially by politicians, when these surveys deliver results unfavorable to their side.
In 2000, co-founder Professor Emeritus Miranda did admit that a presidential adviser for the current administration had paid over 620,000 pesos to conduct an opinion survey of President Joseph Estrada at the time of his impeachment trial. The survey reflected President Estrada's public acceptance rating going up.{{Cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2000/12/10/89062/pulse-asia-head-admits-aventajado-paid-p620000-impeach-survey/amp/|title=Pulse Asia head admits Aventajado paid P620,000 for impeach survey|first=Marichu|last=Villanueva|website=Philstar.com}}
In 2010, Sen. Richard Gordon sued Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, the other leading political polling firm, in connection with his poor showing in pre-election surveys in which he was listed as a candidate for president.{{Cite web|url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/04/13/10/gordon-threatens-sue-survey-firms|title=Gordon threatens to sue survey firms|date=April 13, 2010|website=ABS-CBN News}} Gordon explained that "surveys serve no public purpose except to rob the people of their right to be able to engage in a mental exercise where they can gauge their candidate's capability. It is mental conditioning in no uncertain terms."{{Cite web|url=http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2010/0422_gordon2.asp|title=Press Release - Gordon sues SWS, Pulse Asia|website=legacy.senate.gov.ph}} In the event, the court refused to issue the temporary restraining order requested by Gordon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2010/05/05/572091/quezon-city-court-wont-stop-poll-surveys|title=Quezon City court won't stop poll surveys|first=Reinir|last=Padua|website=Philstar.com}} During the actual presidential elections, Gordon received 1.39% of the vote, even less than the 2% the pre-election surveys had indicated.
Since 2016, Pulse Asia was also tagged as a "propaganda tool" by several anti-Duterte organizations and newspaper columnists due to its regular release of surveys that seemed to improve the optics of the Duterte government amid on-going crises and social unrest resulting from corruption scandals and gross ineptitude.{{Editorializing|date=July 2021}}. Despite the controversy, however, Pulse Asia has regularly delivered its Ulat ng Bayan surveys, even if these showed high approval and trust ratings for Duterte among Filipinos.{{Cite web|last=Interaksyon|date=2017-10-13|title=SO WHOM DO WE TRUST? {{!}} Beyond Duterte: SWS vs Pulse confuses Netizens|url=https://interaksyon.philstar.com/breaking-news/2017/10/13/103291/so-whom-do-we-trust-beyond-duterte-sws-vs-pulse-confuses-netizens/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=Interaksyon|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=SWS, Pulse Asia pre-election surveys are junk|url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/04/16/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/sws-pulse-asia-pre-election-surveys-are-junk/540974/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=The Manila Times|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2020-06-30|title=Populism and popularity: 4 years of Duterte at the Philippines' helm|url=https://www.laprensalatina.com/populism-and-popularity-4-years-of-duterte-at-the-philippines-helm/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=La Prensa Latina Media|language=en-US}} Various hypotheses have been advanced to explain the continuing high ratings of Duterte in such surveys, including the element of apprehension or fear among respondents.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rappler.com/nation/fear-factor-duterte-ratings-pulse-asia-president|title=Fear can't be ruled out as factor in Duterte ratings – Pulse Asia president|website=Rappler}}
See also
References
{{reflist |refs=
{{cite web
| url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/30522717/The-Maturation-of-Phil-Democ
| title = The maturation of Philippine democracy
| last = Sureta
| first = Alfredo S. Jr.
| date = 16 December 2009
| via = Scribd
| access-date = 17 March 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100503140356/http://www.scribd.com/doc/30522717/The-Maturation-of-Phil-Democ
| archive-date = 3 May 2010
| url-status = live
}}
{{cite web
| url = http://www.philstar.com/headlines/572409/noynoy-kin-allies-behind-pulse-sws
| title = Noynoy kin, allies behind Pulse, SWS
| last = Clapano
| first = Jose Rodel
| date = 6 May 2010
| work = The Philippine Star
| access-date = 17 March 2016
}}
{{cite web
| url = https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3b9qPFV1cRDVzYtRWY2QXZXeW8/edit
| title = On the Ownership and Operations of Pulsa Asia
| last = Holmes
| first = Ronald D.
| date = 30 October 2013
| publisher = Pulse Asia
| via = Google Drive
| access-date = 17 March 2016
| format = PDF
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200826185459/https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3b9qPFV1cRDVzYtRWY2QXZXeW8/edit
| archive-date = 26 August 2020
| url-status = live
}} [https://archive.org/details/OnTheOwnershipOfPulseAsia Alt URL]
}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.pulseasia.ph/}}
Category:Market research companies of the Philippines