Many Filipinos disagree that Chinese gov’t has good intentions for PH — SWS

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and President Xi Jinping of People’s Republic of China pose for a photo after declaring their joint press statements during the successful expanded bilateral meeting at the Malacañan Palace on November 20, 2018. ALFRED FRIAS/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Most Filipinos do not believe that China has good intentions for the Philippines, a latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed on Friday, April 5.

The survey done from December 16 to 19 last year, asked its 1,440 respondents if they agree with the statement, “Most of what the Chinese government wants to happen in the Philippines is good for the Filipinos.”

To this, 44 percent of Filipino adults said they “disagree,” while only 27 percent “agree.” The other 29 percent said they are “undecided.” about the matter.

“The 44% disagreement consists of 22% strongly disagree and 22% somewhat disagree, while the 27% agreement consists of 7% strongly agree and 19% somewhat agree, correctly rounded,” the SWS noted.

This, the pollster said, resulted to a net agreement score of -17, which it classified as “moderately weak.”

Based on areas, net agreement on China’s intentions was at “neutral -1” in Visayas. It was “moderately weak” in Mindanao at -19, Metro Manila at -20, and Balance Luzon at -23.

The December 2018 also measured public trust in China. Filipino adults with “much trust” in China had a net agreement score of “neutral +18,” while those with “little trust” in China had a net agreement of “very weak -40.”

The net agreement among those who were “undecided” about their trust in  China was at “moderately weak -12.”

The SWS said it first implemented the survey question in July 1985 to “gauge public opinion about the US (United State) government’s intention for the Filipino people.” It was only in September 1993 when the pollster used the same test statement for both Japanese and Chinese governments.

Compared to when it was last surveyed 25 years ago, net agreement that most of what the Chinese government wants to happen in the Philippines is good for the Filipinos eased by 11 points from -28 recorded in September 1993 to December 2018’s -17.

The recent SWS survey used face-to-face interviews with its respondents nationwide — 360 each from Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao — and has a sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.6 percent for national percentages.