64% of Filipinos do not favor Charter change

More Filipinos are against the move to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution, based on the Ulat ng Bayan survey conducted by Pulse Asia in the first quarter of 2018.

In the nationwide survey conducted from March 23-28 with 1,200 respondents, 64 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of amending the 1987 Constitution.

Of this total, 32 percent said they are open to Charter change sometime in the future but not at present and 32 percent are completely opposed

to any amendments, whether now or at any other time.

In all geographic areas and most socio-economic classes, Pulse Asia pointed out that “majority” levels of opposition to Charter change were recorded (58 percent to 71 percent and 61 percent to 68 percent, respectively).

Half of those in Class E or the poorest (50 percent) share this sentiment. In contrast, 23 percent of Filipinos are supportive of Charter change now, while the rest (13 percent) are undecided on the issue.

Pulse Asia explained that public support for Charter change at present eased by 14 points during the period July 2016 to March 2018, while opposition became more pronounced (+20 percentage points).

The level of support for amending the 1987 Constitution also declined in Metro Manila (-13 percentage points), rest of Luzon (-15 percentage points), Mindanao (-23 percentage points), Class D or the “masa” (-15 percentage points), and Class E (-11 percentage points).

Opposition to Charter change became more notable during the survey period not only at the national level (+20 percentage points) but also in Metro Manila (+17 percentage points), rest of Luzon (+29 percentage points), Mindanao (+22 percentage points), and Class D (+24 percentage points).

In particular, the percentage of Filipinos who are absolutely opposed to Charter change, such as those against amending the Constitution now not at any other time, increased by 17 percentage points, with similar movements occurring in Metro Manila (+17 percentage points), the rest of Luzon (+27 percentage points), Mindanao (+14 percentage points), Class D (+19 percentage points), and Class E (+16 percentage points).

Koko for federal gov’t Although 64 percent of Filipinos are against Charter change, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III is keen on pushing for the government's shift to a federal form.

Pimentel, a proponent of federalism, on Wednesday said that the public can still be swayed to change their mind for the amendment of the Constitution.

“Review the Pulse Asia survey interpretation because the result for ‘do not amend now but okay to amend later’ can also be counted as in favor of amending the Constitution. Magiging more than 50 percent or even 60 percent ang in favor of amending the Constitution if we do that,” Pimentel told reporters when asked about his comment on the survey.

Pimentel said that the Senate may consider the sentiment but said he “will point out the other way of interpreting the results.”

Info drive needed The Senate chief, on the other hand, said he recognizes that the public has yet to be fully educated on federalism.

He said the PDP-Laban and “all those other movements” will intensify its drive in informing the public about Charter change and federalism.

“We may differ in the details (which are also important) but at least when we campaign for federalism we educate the people on its basic meaning and mechanisms,” Pimentel said in a text message.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III agreed with Pimentel's opinion, admitting that he, himself, is not adept to the proposed shift to federalism.

“Perhaps, the proponents should endeavor into a massive information dissemination campaign to the people so they could make an informed opinion. Many of us, including myself,are not well versed on how a shift to federalism can be smoothly done. Then and only then can we say that we can put the brakes on,” Sotto said in a separate text message.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, for his part, said the government must step up in educating the Filipinos on the benefits of shifting to federalism.

“Their methods of communicating this to the people have not been successful. There is the concept that what people fear most is change, so without addressing the uncertainties of shifting to a different system, then there will continue to be resistance from the people,” Zubiri said in a statement.

He also noted that it would be difficult to convince his colleagues in the Senate about Charter change if the majority of the people are against the shift.

“As a federalist myself being from Mindanao, I find these survey numbers an eye opener to tweak the information campaign or at the very least propose piece-meal amendments to the Charter that will give greater autonomy both financially and politically to local government units. That would be more palatable to my colleagues and that would be more effective in amending the Constitution rather than not improving our outdated Charter,” he said. (With a report from Vanne P. Terrazola)