78% of Filipinos say ties with US ‘more important’ than China — SWS

THE PHILIPPINES’ relationship with the United States (U.S) is “more important” than its ties with China, majority of Filipinos said as revealed in the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Based on the result of the Third Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey released on Saturday, December 7, 78 percent of Filipinos value the country’s relationship with the US than with China. Twelve percent, meanwhile, said the Philippines’ relationship with Beijing is more important than with the U.S.

On the other hand, five percent believe the country’s relationship with both the US and China are equally important, and four percent did not give an answer.

Balance Luzon has the highest number of those who consider the Philippines’ ties with the U.S to be more important than with China which was at 83 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 79 percent, Visayas at 77 percent, and Mindanao at 67 percent.

The same survey also revealed that more than half or 52 percent of Filipinos said it is possible for the Philippines to have a good relationship with both the U.S and China at the same time, while 41 percent believe otherwise. Seven percent, meanwhile, did not have an answer.

As of September 2019, Filipino’s trust in China continued to decline, with 54 percent of them saying they had “little trust” in China, while 21 percent said they had “much trust.” This resulted in a net trust rating of “bad” -33 in September 2019, a nine-point decrease from the “poor” -24 in June 2019.

Contrary to this, Filipino’s trust in the U.S remained “excellent,” at +72, with 80 percent of the respondents saying they had “much trust” in the U.S, while eight percent said they had “little trust.”

The recent survey was conducted from September 27 to 30, using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults nationwide. It has sampling error margins of plus-minus 2.3 percent for national percentages, plus-minus four percent each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and plus-minus six percent for Metro Manila and Visayas.

This was done in the same period as another SWS poll which showed that 70 percent of Filipinos were “worried” over the rising number of Chinese workers in the Philippines, with some were agreeing that their existence in the country could be a threat to the national security.

But the Palace assured the public that the administration is strictly enforcing its immigration and labor policies on foreign workers and that President Rodrigo Duterte “will prioritize the interests of the Filipino people and our local labor force.” ■