MANILA – A Social Weather Stations (SWS)
survey has revealed that more Filipinos are opposed to the Malacanang-initiated
charter change (Cha-cha).
As expected Malacanang aides questioned
the results of the survey by the prestigious Social Weather Stations.
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The survey conducted from June 22 to June
28, disclosed that the number of Filipinos who intend to vote “no,” if a
plebiscite was to be held on constitutional change, has increased to a solid
majority of 67 percent compared to 56 percent in a previously held SWS national
survey conducted from March 8 to March 14.
Among those surveyed, only 15 percent had
been approached to sign a petition favoring Cha-cha, of whom, 6.8 percent
signed, 7.2 percent did not sign and a one-point balance refused to say if they
signed or not.
The survey also revealed that the roughly
7 percent proportion of the respondents who signed, even in combination with
the 8 percent “no-answers,” assuming that they were among the signatories, are
statistically below the constitutional minimum requirement of 12 percent of the
national electorate for constitutional amendments to be pushed through a
people’s initiative.
It also said the “no” vote leads in all
areas of the country, with 60 percent of the middle-to-upper ABC classes, 68
percent of the ‘masa’ or D class and 66 percent of the very poor E class
intending to vote no to Cha-cha. Even among those who admitted having signed
the petition, the no vote outscored the ‘yes’ votes 48 to 46 percent.
According to the survey, the people’s
initiative movement appears to be strongest in the Visayas, where 21 percent of
the respondents said their signatures were solicited. Signature solicitation
rate in both Mindanao and Metro Manila was pegged at 16 percent while the
balance of Luzon registered 12 percent.
The survey also revealed that voters’
feelings about the Commission on Elections (Comelec) continue to be mixed, with
34 percent of respondents agreeing as opposed to the 37 percent who disagreed
that ‘the Comelec can be trusted to honestly count the votes of the people in a
plebiscite to ratify a new Constitution,’ which is statistically unchanged from
the March SWS survey’s finding that 30 percent still agreed with the Comelec
while 34 percent disagreed with the poll body’s handling of a plebiscite to
amend the Charter.
The survey was done using face-to-face
interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro
Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
