84% reject gov't's 'do nothing' policy on the West PHL Sea – SWS poll

The number of Filipinos who believe it was not right for the government to leave China alone with its infrastructures and military presence in the West Philippine Sea had risen to 84 percent, according to Social Weather Stations' third quarter survey.

The second quarter SWS survey showed 81 percent rejected the government's policy of doing nothing.

The results of the survey were released on the same day Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in the Philippines for a two-day state visit.

The third quarter poll also found that the number of Filipinos believed it was right for the Philippines to strengthen its military capability, especially that of the Philippine Navy, had risen to 86 percent from the previous quarter's 80 percent.

However, those who thought that it was right for the government to bring the West Philippine Sea Territorial dispute to international organizations, like the United Nations (UN) or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), for a diplomatic and peaceful negotiation with China, decreased to 71 percent from the previous quarter's 74 percent.

Nevertheless, 87 percent said it was important that the Philippines regained control of West Philippine Sea islands occupied by China.

Of those who found this matter important, 72 percent said it was very important, 15 percent said it somewhat important, one percent thought it was somewhat not important, and another one percent thought it was not at all important. The remaining ten percent were undecided about the matter.

During the second quarter, 69 percent said  it was very important that the Philippines regained control of West Philippine Sea island occupied by China, 18 percent said it was somewhat important, one percent thought it was somewhat not important, and one percent not at all important. The remaining 11 percent were undecided.

Palace questions timing of poll survey results

Reacting to the survey results, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo slammed the timing of the release of such findings.

“We find the timing of the release of the results of the survey conducted by [Social Weather Stations] last September 15-23 suspect considering that such was made public on the day of Chinese President Xi Jing Ping’s first state visit to the Philippines,” Panelo said in a statement.

“This adds credence to the commonly-held belief that polling firms could be wittingly or unwittingly used for partisan purposes,” he added.

He also slammed the “flawed”  questionnaire design, particularly on “how some questions were phrased to arrive at the results of the the survey.”

Panelo cited the question, “Ang pabayaan na lang ang Tsina na panatilihin ang mga imprastraktura at militar sa mga inaangking mga teritoryo ay tama/hindi na pamaraan na gawin ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas upang malutas ang pagtatalo ng Pilipinas at Tsina tungkol sa West Philippine Sea.”

“We consider the question skewed as it misleads the public to believe and suggests that the current government has not acted on China’s activities on the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea. This is far from the truth,” he said.

Awareness

The proportion of those who were aware of the West Philippine Sea dispute rose to 89 percent in the third quarter, compared to 81 percent during the second quarter.

Among those who were aware of the dispute, 15 percent said they had extensive knowledge, 32 percent had adequate knowledge, 41 percent had only a little knowledge, and 12% had very little knowledge on the matter.

During the second quarter, 12 percent had extensive knowledge, 40 percent had adequate knowledge, 43 percent had only a little knowledge, and five percent had very little knowledge about the matter.

The third quarter poll also found that there was no change in the number of respondents who knew that the Chinese coast guard had forced Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea to turn over their catch -  65 percent said they were aware in both the second and third quarters, and 35 percent in both quarters said this was the first time they had heard of it.

The third quarter poll also found that 62 percent knew that the Philippines was unable to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the West Philippine Sea, down two points from the second quarter's  64 percent.

Also, in both second and third quarter polls, 50 percent said they knew that China had created artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea which they used as military airbases.

China's trust rating

The third quarter poll also found that the United States had a "very good" net trust rating (percent much trust minus percent little trust); while Japan ,Malaysia, and Israel were rated "moderate". 

China scored a "poor" trust rating.

Net trust in China has been positive in only 9 out of 47 polls since the SWS first surveyed the matter during 1994's third quarter.

China's trust rating rose to its highest, a "moderate" +17 during 2010's second quarter. It was at its lowest during 2015's third quarter - a "bad" -46.

In the third quarter 2018 poll, China was rated a "poor" -16, but nevertheless 19 points above the "bad" -35 during the second quarter.

The SWS defines net trust ratings of +70 and above as "excellent", +50 to +69 as "very good", +30 to +49 as "good", +10 to +29 was "moderate", +9 to -9 was "neutral", -10 to -29 was "poor", -30 to -49 was "bad", -50 to -69 was "very bad", and -70 and below was "execrable".

Meanwhile, among those who were aware that Chinese coast-guardsmen had forced Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea to turn over their catch, China had a "poor" -22  net trust rating. Among those who just learned of the Chinese coast-guardsmen's behavior, China had "neutral" zero rating.

Distrust in China was higher among those who already knew that the Philippines was unable to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the West Philippine Sea, compared to the "neutral" -3 among those who just learned about it.

Distrust in China was also higher among those aware that China had created artificial islands which they used as military airbases, compared to the "neutral" -9 among those who learned about it during the interview.

The third quarter-2018 China-stance poll was taken from September 15-23, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide. The poll had sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages; ±4% for Balance Luzon; and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. — DVM/RSJ, GMA News