Majority of Filipinos not in favor of Charter change — Pulse Asia

There are currently more Filipinos who are not in favor of the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha), a latest Pulse Asia survey revealed. (Photo by Glendale Lapastora (1)/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

There are currently more Filipinos who are not in favor of the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha), a latest Pulse Asia survey revealed.

The survey released on Wednesday, May 2, showed that 64 percent of Filipinos oppose the amendment of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. This result shows that the opposition to Cha-cha increased by 20 points from 44 percent in another Pulse Asia survey in 2016.

Of this total, 32 percent said that they are “open to Charter change sometime in the future but not at present,” while the same percentage said that they are “completely opposed to any amendments, whether now or at any other time.”

Public awareness of Cha-cha has also risen from 41 percent in July 2016 to 49 percent in March this year.

Meanwhile, the survey result also showed that a sizable majority of Filipinos or 66 percent are not in favor of changing the present unitary system of government to a federal system.

The strongest opposition is in Balance Luzon with 75 percent, followed by Mindanao at 65 percent, Visayas with 60 percent, and the National Capital Region (NCR) with 54 percent.

The rest of the Filipinos are either supportive of the change to a federal system (27 percent) or are ambivalent on the matter (six percent).

The Pulse Asia also revealed that three out of every four Filipinos or 75 percent have “little/almost none/no knowledge at all” about the 1987 Constitution. Knowledge levels, the Pulse Asia said, have not changed between July 2016 and March 2018.

Out of the 75 percent figure, 42 percent admitted having little knowledge, while 34 percent said they know nothing about the Constitution at all.

This nationwide survey, conducted from March 23 to 28, is based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above, with a plus-minus three percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey — including Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao — have a plus-minus six percent error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level.

Among the issues that dominated the headlines during the conduct of this survey were the filing of a quo warranto petition seeking to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from her post; the order of former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to cancel the resolution by Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors to dismiss the drug charges against Peter Lim, Rolando Espinosa, Jr., and Peter Co; and the announcement of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC).