Majority of Filipinos oppose shift to federalism —Pulse Asia survey

Majority of Filipinos are not in favor of changing the present system of government to a federal system now, a Pulse Asia survey result released Wednesday showed.

The survey, conducted from March 23 to 28, showed that 66 percent of Filipinos opposed replacing the present unitary system of government with a federal one.

More specifically, 36 percent of Filipinos are against changing the system of government regardless of the timing of such change, while 30 percent are opposed to changing it now but may be open to it sometime in the future.

The survey used a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above.

It has a ± 3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

The Pulse Asia poll showed that 34 percent of those from Metro Manila and 40 percent from Mindanao, where President Rodrigo Duterte hails from, were against the shift in the system of government, whether now or in the future.

Duterte and his political party are the main proponents of Charter change and federalism in the country.

Awareness

Meanwhile, 71 percent of Filipinos know little or almost have no knowledge about the federal system being proposed by several government officials and various groups and individuals. The lack or absence of awareness is reported by most Filipinos across geographic areas and socio-economic classes.

Only 29 percent of Filipinos said they have a great deal or sufficient amount of knowledge about the issue.

The survey also showed that 64 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of amending the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Of the number, 32 percent said they are open to Charter change sometime in the future but not at present, and 32 percent said they are completely opposed to any amendments, whether now or at any other time.

It further showed that the overall level of support for amending the Constitution declined between July 2016 and March 2018 by 14 percentage points.

Among the issues facing the country during the time the survey was conducted were the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida before the Supreme Court against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno; the House justice committee finding of probable cause to impeach Sereno; the Philippines' withdrawal from the International Criminal Court following what Duterte referred to as the "outrageous" attacks made by some United Nations officials. —KG, GMA News