Bilang Pilipino partners with SWS

Bilang Pilipino, the comprehensive and multi- platform election coverage of TV5, has partnered with Social Weather Stations ( SWS), the country’s top public opinion research organization, to ensure an in- depth, accurate and data driven coverage of the 2016 national elections.

In what the first initiative of its kind by a major network after the Cebu Debate last March 20, TV5 came up with a nationwide assessment of the public’s perceptions of the leading presidential candidates: Vice President Jojo Binay, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe and former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas on March 22, two days after the COMELEC- sponsored debate held at the University of the Philippines Cebu, by reporting a pioneering panel mobile survey designed by SWS.

The Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey used a nationally representative sample of 1,200 validated voters, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The sample was drawn using standard SWS sampling procedures, and was interviewed face- to- face on March 8 to 11. This statistically- representative national sample formed a panel surveyed five days a week, starting March 14, by means of mobile smartphones provided for free.

According to Emmanuel C. Lorenzana, TV5 president and CEO,

“Bilang Pilipino is our modest contribution in the formation of an enlightened Filipino citizenry able to decide for themselves the future and destiny of our country in the coming May 2016 presidential elections. We are committed to using every resource in our disposal, to avail of the latest scientific techniques and information technologies to provide the Filipino electorate with the information and analysis that they would need to make their decisions come Election Day.”

Lorenzana further stressed that “We in TV5 and the MVP Group where our company belongs and whose support for Bilang Pilipino remains strong, are committed to seeing to it that the Filipino people become not only passive viewers but more deeply involved and participative in the coming May 2016 polls. This election has been dubbed as the ‘ millennial elections’ because those born at the turn of the 21st century would be voting for the first time. It is for them and the youth of this country in whose hands the nation’s future is now passed on, that we in the Kapatid Network dedicate our efforts, our passions and our hopes as well.”

SWS president Mahar Mangahas added, “As a Philippine survey research leader, we want to show our support with TV5’ s call for a better political system by being its partner in this innovative and national endeavor. We hope to provide the Filipino electorate with dynamic data about the election race derived from the mobile surveys.’’

Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey is also made possible by TV5 and SWS’s collaboration with other industry leaders including Starmobile, the official handset provider; Voyager Innovations, the creator of web- based voting platform and app; and Smart Communications, the free Internet service provider.