By Leandro DD Coronel
A recent Gallup international poll placed the Philippines as the third happiest nation in the world. Which validates my hunch that Filipinos don’t always speak their minds when asked by pollsters.
Rather, Filipinos tend to give uncontroversial answers. Meaning, they choose to not rock the boat with a negative response. My feeling is that when Filipinos are asked, for example, “Are you happy?” they just say “Yes” and be done with it. (Survey questions are more complex than that, but they boil down to one-liners.)
The same with polls regarding the performance of government, especially that of the chief executive. If they’re asked whether they approve of the performance of the president, many Filipinos give a positive answer, whether they really do approve or not, just to get rid of the interviewer. They tend to give the most convenient answer, which is a “Yes,” and thus avoiding controversy.
Many people are also skeptical of pollsters’ intentions or motives. After all, they’re strangers to them.
Why am I skeptical of the Gallup poll’s conclusion that the Philippines is the third happiest country in the world?
Poverty incidence in the Philippines is nearly 26 percent of the population. When a fourth of all Filipinos are poor, how can the nation possibly be third happiest in the world? Are we masochists or what? Why would we tell pollsters we’re happy even when many of us wallow in poverty?
Or do we just pretend we’re happy instead of admitting we’re miserable? Is that our way of easing the pain of constantly struggling for a decent life?
Of course, personal wealth isn’t the only measure of happiness. Social services, educational systems, public utilities, peace and order, and other indices (in a few words: quality of life) are important. But economic well-being is also important. And, in this category, a large number of Filipinos are in deep misery.
If one were to guess off-hand which countries were the happiest, one would guess they might be the Scandinavian nations, Canada, or Australia. According to Gallup, the first and second happiest are Fiji and Colombia.
Do I doubt the integrity of pollsters? I think the reputable survey companies are trustworthy and they have their methodologies and practices down pat to a science.
It’s the reliability of the answers of those interviewed that I suspect. The polling companies probably have built-in allowances for untrue answers. But I think there are still leakages and they show in the final results.
Filipinos are a naturally suspicious people. Especially of strangers. We appear hospitable toward strangers, but we are skeptical at the same time.
So, when a stranger comes up to us and asks questions, we tend to be skeptical and give non-controversial answers. Why rock the boat needlessly?
And then, there are also the mischievous among us who give untrue or misleading answers just for the fun of it.
These possible discrepancies in people’s answers to survey questions give an untrue or incomplete picture of reality. And so, even if survey methods are reliable, there is still a possibility of getting an inaccurate result.
Some commentators, especially from the government side, are happy about the Filipinos’ reputation for resilience in the face of hardship. They think it’s a positive trait. I don’t. When people are happy despite being poor, there’s something wrong. They should be worried and even angry.
We Filipinos being the third happiest people in the world? Doesn’t make sense.
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Tantrum Ergo. I don’t quite know how to interpret US President Donald Trump’s boast that he’s a “stable genius.” Has it got anything to do with horses?