Majority of Pinoys oppose gov’t inaction vs. China’s ‘intrusion’ in WPS

FILE: Fiery Cross Reef (Photo: Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative)

A latest survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that majority of Filipinos opposed the government’s policy of “doing nothing” regarding China’s “intrusion” in the West Philippines Sea (WPS).

In the results of the Third Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey done from September 15 to 23 but was only released on the day Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in the Philippines for a two-day state visit, 84 percent of survey respondents said it is “not right” for the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to just “leave China alone with its infrastructures and military presence in the claimed territories.”

This is a three-point increase from the 81 percent recorded in June this year.

Among its 1,500 survey respondents, the SWS also showed that 86 percent of them believe that it is “right” for the Philippines to “strengthen” its military capability, especially the Philippine Navy (PN),  which is a six-point jump from the 80 percent in the previous survey.

Seventy-one percent of Filipinos, meanwhile, said it is also “right” for the government to raise the WPS dispute to international organizations, like the United Nations (UN) or Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), “for a diplomatic and peaceful negotiation with China about the claimed territories.”

“Eighty-seven percent say it is important that the Philippines regains control of the islands occupied by China in the West Philippine Sea,” the pollster said.

Responding to the question, “In your opinion, is it important that the control of the islands that China currently occupies in the West Philippine Sea be given back to the Philippines?” 72 percent of Filipinos answered that it is “very important,” 15 percent said it is “somewhat important,” one percent said it is “somewhat not important,” and one percent believes it is “not at all important.”

On the other hand, those who were undecided about the issue was at 10 percent.

Awareness

Moreover, awareness on the WPS conflict climbed to 89 percent in September from the 81 percent recorded in June.

Of the 89 percent, the SWS said 15 percent had “extensive” knowledge before the interview, 32 percent had “adequate” knowledge, 41 percent had “only a little” knowledge, while 12 acquired “very little” knowledge about the issue.

The pollster also found that 65 percent of the respondents were aware that “Chinese coast guard has forced Filipino fishermen in the WPS to turn over their catch” before the survey was conducted.

Trust ratings

Among the five specific countries that the SWS tested for public trust, the United States (US) was graded a “very good” trust rating by the Filipinos, while Japan, Malaysia, and Israel were rated “moderate.”

Filipinos, on the other hand, gave a “poor” trust rating to China, despite its good ties with the country.

Net trust in China, the pollster said, has been positive in only nine out of 47 surveys since SWS first conducted the survey regarding the matter in August 1994.

Palace reacts 

Reacting to the latest survey, Malacañang on Tuesday, questioned the timing of the release of the September 2018 survey.

“We find the timing of the release of the results of the survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) last September 15-23 suspect considering that such was made public on the day of Chinese President Xi Jing Ping’s first state visit to the Philippines,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

He also criticized the “flawed” questionnaire design, especially “how some questions were phrased to arrive at the results of the survey.”

Panelo then cited a question where the respondents were asked, “Ang pabayaan na lang ang Tsina na panatilihin ang mga imprastraktura at militar sa mga inaangking mga teritoryo ay TAMA / HINDI TAMA na pamaraan na gawin ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas upang malutas ang pagtatalo ng Pilipinas at Tsina tungkol sa West Philippine Sea (Letting China maintain its infrastructures and military presence in the claimed territories is RIGHT/NOT RIGHT for the Philippine government to do in resolving the conflict between the Philippines and China about the West Philippine Sea).”

The Palace official said they considered such question as “skewed,” stressing that “it misleads the public to believe and suggests that the current government has not acted on China’s activities on the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea.”

The September 2018 Social Weather Survey was done using face-to-face interviews on its respondents nationwide, with sampling error margins of plus or minus three percent for national percentages, plus or minus four percent for Balance Luzon, and plus or minus six percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.