Poll donations shrinking - SWS

from The Philippine Star

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=551290&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Campaign donations from Philippine-based enterprises are expected to be “fewer and smaller” this year than in the 2004 presidential elections, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Nov. 3 to Dec. 5, 2009 among top and middle-level managers, found that 31 percent of respondents expected their enterprises to donate to political campaigns, compared to 45 percent in the 2004 elections and 23 percent in 2007.
The new survey also showed that 17 percent of the respondents expected their companies to donate to more than one candidate for a single position, while 14 percent said they would donate to only one candidate for a single position. In the 2004 survey, 33 percent of managers expected companies to donate to more than one candidate for a single position and 12 percent to only one candidate.
The findings are part of The Asia Foundation-sponsored survey “2009 SWS Surveys of Enterprises on Corruption,” released yesterday.
It used face-to-face interviews of 550 top and middle-level enterprise managers, 366 of them from randomly drawn small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and 184 from randomly drawn large corporations.
Among managers who believe that companies in their respective line of business will donate to the 2010 election campaign, 44 percent estimated the donations to be at least P50,000 in cash or in kind, 15 percent estimated it at P50,000 to P99,000; 19 percent at P100,000 to P499,000; six percent at P500,000 to P999,000 and 12 percent at P1 million and above.
In 2004, 41 percent of managers estimated it to be less than P50,000; 15 percent estimated it at P50,000 to P99,000; 25 percent at P100,000 to P499,000; six percent at P500,000 to P999,000 and nine percent at P1 million and above. The new survey also revealed that 24 percent of managers say that company donations to political campaigns are voluntary; 64 percent say these are partly voluntary and partly solicited, and 12 percent say these are all solicited.
In 2004, only 11 percent said these donations were voluntary; 75 percent say these are partly voluntary and partly solicited and 14 percent said these were all solicited.
It found that the two most important reasons for companies to donate to political campaigns are “the company believes in a candidate’s platform” (68 percent) and “the company might need help from a candidate with some future problems (50 percent).
The 2009 survey also found that 67 percent of enterprises have a written code of ethics - down from 71 percent in 2008. Of these, only 32 percent have clear rules on giving gifts to government officials - down from 39 percent previously.
SWS president Mahar Mangahas said the average amount the company will donate is less than the average donations in the 2004 SWS survey of managers.
“As to why, I will not speculate,” Mangahas said. -Helen Flores