MANILA – Some members of the House of Representatives criticized the recent survey of Pulse Asia showing that 88 percent of Filipinos opposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
Iloilo 1st District’s Cong. Janette Garin said on Monday that the survey attempted to sway public opinion regarding the plan to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution.
“Surveys should reflect the real concerns of the people, not push a particular agenda,” the House Deputy Majority Leader said. “Obviously, the survey attempts to sway the public opinion.”
The Pulse Asia survey conducted March 6 to 10 showed 88 percent of the 1,200 adult respondents are against amending the 1987 Constitution; only eight percent favored amendments.
Of the 88 percent, 74 percent opposed changes this year or any other time; 14 percent said the Constitution may be amended some other time; and four percent responded “they don’t know” if the Constitution should be “amended or not amended at this time.”
The opposition against Charter change is highest in Mindanao (91 percent) and in income class E (93 percent), which is the lowest, the survey stated.
Zamboanga City’s 2nd District representative Manuel Jose Dalipe, for his part, questioned the survey for including topics such as term extension for national and local elective officials, change of the presidential system to a parliamentary system of government, and shift from bicameral to a unicameral legislature.
“Why include questions that people don’t want and are not related to the ongoing process in Congress? Is this black propaganda?” the House Majority Leader said in a separate statement.
“We believe that the best way to gauge public opinion on Cha-cha is through a plebiscite, not surveys,” he added.
The survey results were released on Holy Wednesday, a week after the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 (RBH 7).
RBH 7, which aims to amend specific economic constitutional provisions related to public utilities, education, and advertising, has been sent to the Senate, which is tackling a similar resolution known as RBH 6./PN
