SWS: 61% of Pinoys believe US will protect PHL from invasion

At least 61 percent of Filipinos believe that the United States will defend the Philippines in case of invasion by another country, a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey released on Wednesday showed.

The SWS non-commissioned poll, conducted on June 27 to 30 this year, revealed that the 61 percent who believe that the US will come to the Philippines' defense is way higher than the 30 percent undecided and 9 percent who don't believe that the Americans will fight the invaders of the Philippines.

The SWS survey was held two months ahead of the 67th anniversary of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States last August. The survey results were released only on Wednesday, December 12.

The MDT, inked by Manila and Washington in 1952, states that both parties will defend themselves against external armed attack.

The same survey, however, revealed that only 47 percent are aware of the MDT between the Philippines and the United States while the rest 53 percent only became aware after the interview.

Majority of the Filipinos who are previously aware of the Philippines' conflicting claims with China in the West Philippine Sea, however, are aware of the MDT at 54 percent.

Awareness of the MDT, however, was the highest among those with extensive knowledge about the PH-China dispute in the West Philippine Sea at 73 percent.

Geographically, the MDT awareness was highest in Metro Manila at 58 percent, followed by followed by Balance Luzon at 53 percent, Visayas at 41 percent and Mindanao at 31 percent.

MDT awareness is also higher in urban areas at 55 percent as opposed to 38 percent in rural areas.

The SWS poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide, with 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The sampling error margin for national percentages is 3 percent and 6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The area estimates were based on Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2018 to obtain the national estimates.

The SWS poll results were released just a day after the US Department of Defense returned the three Balangiga bells, taken by the American soldiers as war trophies in 1901, to the Philippines after 117 years.

The Americans took the bells in retaliation for the killing of 48 American soldiers by Filipino guerillas in an ambush of the 9th US Infantry Regiment during the war. Prior to taking the bells, the Americans avenged their defeat by razing Eastern Samar towns and sending males aged 10 years and above to prison.

US forces, however, later fought side-by-side with Filipino soldiers to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation in 1945. — RSJ, GMA News