SWS: Majority of Pinoys says U.S. will defend PH from invasion

Responding to this, 61 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they believe that the U.S. will defend the Philippines, nine percent did not, and 30 percent were undecided. (File Photo by Wayne S. Grazio/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The latest survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS) released on Wednesday, December 12, showed that majority of Filipinos believe the United States (U.S.) will come to the defense of the Philippines in case of an invasion by other countries.

The SWS asked its survey respondents, “Gaano po kayo naniniwala o hindi naniniwala na ipagtatanggol ng Estados Unidos ang Pilipinas kapag sinalakay tayo ng ibang bansa (How much do you believe or not believe that the United States will defend the Philippines in case we are invaded by another country)?”

Responding to this, 61 percent of the 1,200 respondents said they believe that the U.S. will defend the Philippines, nine percent did not, and 30 percent were undecided.

The number of those who believe that Americans will defend Filipinos from invasion was higher in Balance Luzon with 70 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 64 percent, Visayas at 54 percent, and Mindanao at 48 percent.

“It was higher in overall urban areas at 66%, compared to overall rural areas at 56%,” the pollster noted.

The survey, conducted from June 26 to 30, was held two months before the 67th anniversary of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the U.S. The MDT, which dictates that the two involved countries will support each other if one was to be attacked by an external party, was signed on August 30, 1951.

In the June 2018 survey, 47 percent of Filipinos said they were aware of the MDT even before the survey, while the other 53 percent only learned about it during the survey.

The MDT awareness was recorded highest in Metro Manila with 58 percent, Balance Luzon at 53 percent, Visayas at 41 percent, and Mindanao at 31 percent.

It was also highest in urban areas, which is at 56 percent, compared to rural areas with only 38 percent.

The latest survey was done through face-to-face interviews of the survey respondents nationwide, with sampling error margins of plus or minus three percent for national percentages and plus or minus six percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

“The Social Weather Survey items on people’s opinion about the PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty were non-commissioned. They were included on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” the pollster said.