Honest, are we?
Here’s something I came across while browsing the net. It’s an OLD
honesty survey conducted in Asia, of asians, hmmmm….
READER’S DIGEST: FILIPINOS PASS HONESTY TEST
MANILA, April 7, 2004 (STAR) Surprise, surprise.
Most Filipinos tend to act in an honest fashion when confronted with everyday dilemmas testing their sense of right and wrong, according to an Asia-wide survey conducted by Reader’s Digest magazine.
Over 1,600 people in nine Asian countries were asked what they would do in 10 everyday situations. The “honesty test” was carried out by researchers in shopping malls in the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Filipinos, according to the survey, have few qualms about turning a shoplifter in or telling a friend his or her spouse was having a romantic dinner with a stranger.
Eighty-two percent of Filipinos will alert security officers to a shoplifter, the highest score from all the Asian countries included in the survey.
The lowest score came from Taiwan — 48 percent — where personal safety ranked high among people reluctant to get involved. “What if he turned out to be a gangster?” asked a middle-aged female professional.
Philanderers beware, as 52 percent of Filipinos said they would tell their friend if his or her spouse was seen having a romantic dinner with a stranger. However, an elderly man in Manila said, “I did this once and my friend turned his back on me for telling, instead of his unfaithful wife.”
Indonesia had the lowest score, with only 33 percent saying they would. “It’s none of my business,” a man from Jakarta noted, then added, “When I’m having an affair, I don’t want someone telling my wife about it either, right?”
If they find the cashier at the supermarket has given them too much in change, 82 percent of Filipinos said they would give the money back.
However, Filipinos are not always pillars of honesty.
Almost half (46 percent) of Filipinos surveyed said they would use illegal pirated software. But they fared relatively better than respondents in Singapore (62 percent), Hong Kong (63 percent) and Malaysia (64 percent).
Indians were the most honest, with only 39 percent saying they would use pirated software. “I feel strongly about piracy, it’s ruining the market,” said a young sales executive in Mumbai.
The survey also found that a relatively low 79 percent of Filipinos said they would return a wallet with an address and phone number inside, compared to 96 percent in both India and Indonesia. The lowest score came from Singapore — 74 percent.
Jim Plouffe, senior editor of the magazine’s English Asia edition, conducted most of the survey.
“At first I was concerned that people were telling me what they thought I wanted to hear,” he said. “But after compiling almost 1,800 answers and listening to hundreds of stories about people doing the right thing, I am convinced that Asians are intrinsically honest.”
Peter Dockrill, editor-in-chief of the edition, said the light-hearted survey illustrates that honesty is endemic across the region.
“The results shouldn’t be seen as a scientific barometer of Asian virtue, but rather as an intriguing exercise in self-assessment — and ultimately as a test of people’s candor in answering our questions honestly,” he said.
“In the end we realized that people across Asia share a common trait: the propensity to do the right thing when their honesty is tested. We also found that they have no trouble sharing their stories about succumbing to temptation!” Dockrill added.
The quiz also found that 36 percent of Filipinos declare less than their actual income on annual tax returns if they think they can get away with paying less taxes. The highest scores belonged to Malaysia (55 percent) and South Korea (51 percent).
A third of Filipinos (33 percent) said they will take envelopes and pens from the office for their family’s personal use, placing a close third behind South Korea at 37 percent and Singapore with 34 percent.
One-fourth of Filipinos have no qualms about embellishing their resume if they do not have the exact qualifications for a job, confident they can quickly learn the skills if they are hired. Only South Korea and Taiwan scored lower than the Philippines at 24 percent.
Only 11 percent of Filipinos will walk away with a hotel’s towel inside their suitcase, compared to 17 percent of Taiwanese, 14 percent of Singaporeans, 13 percent of South Koreans and Malaysians, and 12 percent of Hong Kong nationals.
A relatively low percentage (11 percent) of Filipinos will not hesitate to take a quick look at an absent colleague’s bank account statement if they happen to be dropping off a file on the colleague’s desk, compared to 30 percent of Taiwanese, who had the highest score.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
Real honest people, do they exist? I mean impeccable honesty.
I wish to meet one, even just one. :smile:
Call me Thess. Married to a wonderful Dutchman.
May 26th, 2005 at 10:25 am
okey, here’s one…:ngii:
i will confess sometimes i get shocked at the number of pens i have at home….stonata me (tulala, stone) would unconsciously slip pens in my purse from work and by the time i know it, may large stack na ako sa bag ko…ehehehe…so from time to time, i bring over more than a dozen of pens back to work….pen klepto :rofl:
i also have a habit of transporting documents from someone’s desk to another’s….nada, i just have this unconcious habit of picking something up and again unconsciously dropping it elsewhere….
oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii honest pinoys, wak na wak nyo ko report sa trabaho…100 % of the time, nababalik naman yung gamit…tulala lang thalaga shi ako!:?::?::?::?::?::?::?::?::rofl::dance::dance:
May 26th, 2005 at 10:27 am
filipino tago, filipino turo concept?! wala naalalala lang…..:rofl::rofl::rofl:
May 26th, 2005 at 11:06 am
Hi, Thess!
I would like to believe that I’m an honest person — to a fault na nga minsan kahit di na kailangan i-volunteer ang info to others. Siguro kasi I’m aware that God is watching us; meron Siyang X-ray vision. :-)
Thanks for visiting my blog yesterday. I appreciate the comment. I will visit your food blog later. Siguro by e-mail ko na nga lang itatanong yung recipes kasi pag sa blog, kitang kita na ignorante ako sa pagluluto. Many thanks ha! God bless.
May 26th, 2005 at 11:45 am
Real honest people, do they exist? I mean impeccable honesty.
I wish to meet one, even just one—>
you probably just did but you didn’t realize it! don’t you think?:marge:
May 26th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
Oh neybor, di ba nag-meet na tayo dito sa blog mo???? nyahahahaha. joke.
May 26th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
hmmm..thesserie, do i detect a hint of cynicism on your part? ako i don’t really think that people are that bad, sabihin ng i wear rose colored glasses when i deal with people, pero i’d rather err on the side of good eh, yung bang mas mabuti ng i give my trust and believe that the person is good kesa maghinala kaagad ako, and be very guarded with my movements. yung sa mga pinoy, bat kamo magkwekwento yung isa about a neighbor who is having a romantic dinner with somebody else, eh paano tsismosa!…hindi naman dishonest yun di ba? if we make it a habit to be as true to ourselves as to others or vice versa, being honest is not as difficult as we think it is. wala lang….:wink:
May 26th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
thess, i admit upront i am sometimes not honest. halimbawa isang kaibigan ko or kakilala ang magtatanong sa akin kong meron akong alam or narinig na tsismis tungkol sa kanya. ipagpalagay natin may narinig or may alam nga ako, i prefer not to be honest to her dahil alam kong masasaktan siya at maging gulo ang labas. on the other hand, may pangyayari na katulad ng aking na experienced. meron akong nakitang wallet sa loob ng push cart na kinuha ko. i went to the information desk right away para ibigay ito sa staff. before i left the desk, i asked the woman to look inside the wallet para tingnan kong may idenfication card sa loob. meron nga, so what i did is kinuha ko ang pangalan. ng dumating ako sa bahay hinanap ko ang phone number niya at tinawagan to let her know that she can claim her wallet in the supermarket. pwede kong itago yon kong ginusto ko dahil wala namang nakakaalam. pero hindi ko ginawa ni hindi ko sinilip ang loob. simply because ayaw kong magabaan or ma karma :). being honest and dishonest is relative.
May 26th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Impeccable, irreproachable honesty? I”ve never met one. Only in fiction. I use pirated software
May 26th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
nice to meet you too ms. thess, nyahahaha:lol:. i don’t know for some reason, lately i’m becoming guilty all the time:pray:. like while browsing at the clearance rack, clothes fell and i left. but came back right away to hang it back thinking somebody is watching me:ngii:. paranoid…i guess. have a great day ms. thess:wink:
May 26th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
CACOFONIX oy teka, bakit nangumpisal na? :lol:..pero eto, samahan kita: pens ka lang pala, while I, tualya/shampoo/sabon sa hotels na pinagtrabauhan ko, inuuwi ko sa Pinas…baddddddddd…(sana walang magawi dito na mga kasamahan ko dati sa work *gulp*
JAYRED I would like to believe that after receiving Christ as my saviour, naging honest ako sa pamumuhay ko (or as much as possible, I try to be..sus, kay hirap).to the extent na kahit makasakit, sinasabi ko nasa loob ko dahil hindi ako takot na itama ang mali..or kapag mali naman ako, ay itama ako at tanggapin ang sakit..am I making sense?
basta nakapagluto ako ng lechon kawali, dedicate para sa iyo…hahaha, promise yan
CHEH I am sure I still haven’t :marge: ka din! *lol*
RHADA sana neybor lang talaga tayo ano? I would love to have a real contact with you :smile:
ANABANANA tita bananing , maybe you see this as cynicism on my part, I will not argue with that kasi kanya-kanya tayo ng pananaw, Oleh!
but am i saying that people are bad? intriga yan ha! 
kung goodness in people ang usapan…yan ang laging focus ko, hindi ako yung tipo na sa 10, 9 ang tama na ginawa, 1 mali lang ang naaalala…pero realistic lang din ako with lots of experience in life, marami na ako nakasalamuha na akala ko totoo pero hindi pala, so i have to guard me…because who else will do it for me?
tsismis kamo dahilan kaya sinabi? maaring oo, maaring hindi..maraming reason bakit nagsasalita ang tao..para rin sa akin, hindi nya business ang magsabi sa kinauukulan unless kapamilya niya ito o kaibigan at gustong protektahan.
sana nga perfect ang ating mundo para lahat tayo ay true to ourselves..but it isn’t.
BENG cgro pwede nating tawag sa unag sample mo ay ‘protective honesty’ kasi ayaw mo makasakit…i think in some point in our lives, we do that (at least I did and still will, basta ba deserving ng proteksyon ko ang tao) ambait mo at isinauli mo wallet…cgro kung makita ko ay attache case filled with cash i might think 10x…kasi gusto ko ipaduktor tatay ko sa dalubahasa, hindi namin afford yan eh..on the other hand, takot din ako sa karma, baka lalong mag grabe lang lagay ng tatay ko kung gagawin ko yan.
PINAYHEKMI honest girl! :smile:…shhh, I bought 2 pirated CDs when I visited Pinas last year…
ladies and gents, cast the first stone na, cge lang…mabilis ako iilag
THALEY nice to meet you too :rofl: hey! guilty din ako sa nahuhulog na ganyan, at binabalikan ko din..mahirap na, daming cameras sa paligid ligid, minsan kahit nde ako naka gulo ng paninda, inaayos ko din
May 26th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
PINAYHEKMI, buti ka binili mo. Ako? I neveh pay a penny, hinihila ko lang sa internet ang mga kailangan kong softwares. Thief!!! Well, di bale am acting like “Robin Hood” naman eh dahil I share it to others :re:
May 26th, 2005 at 11:51 pm
Neybor Thess,siyempre yong deserving lang ang dapat protektahan
Yong tungkol sa wallet, siyempre nandoon ang temptation. Kaya lang aside from karma naisip ko rin na baka mas broke pa sa akin ang may-ari nito kawawa naman kong ibulsa ko pa 
May 27th, 2005 at 12:51 am
thess,
honest? parang mahirap maging 100% of the time. kapag kumakain kami sa mga restaurant na may discount ang mga bata depende sa idad nila, dati rati nagsisinungaling ako at binibigay kong idad ng kids mas mababa para siyempre mas malaki ang discount. but i realized, its not a good example to children to see adults lying. kaya ngayon hindi na ako nagsisinungaling.
May 27th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
thess,
oooops, sabi ko na sa iyo eh, i wear rose colored shades eh! cguro ako kasi medyo apathetic na eh..i have experienced a lot, and minsan what is shocking and revolting to one is just a simple part of my everyday existence. ako kasi si kibit balikat person eh…i try to do good, and then i don’t expect anything in return..kung susuklian ng msama yung pag mamagandang loob ko, eh di kargo di konsensiya niya yun…hmmm, i am so out of touch with the real world…kakatakot na to, ah! hmmm…magamit nga ang weekend ko to think about honesty in this world….have a nice weekend, thess! love to the boys!
May 28th, 2005 at 9:58 am
Wow great survey.. but I dont know if I beleive the results lol! I use to steal loads of papers, pens, vase, and envelopes when I was at work… (well that was when I was 18… lol I dont think if I will steal a vase now tho!)