Survey: People’s initiative is favored Cha-cha mode

Half of Filipinos now prefer the people’s initiative mode of amending the 1987 Constitution, according to The Center for Issues and Advocacy (The Center) May 2006 survey.

The Center, an independent research group, also bared that only 30 percent of respondents favor the constituent assembly (con-ass) mode while 20 percent approve of the constitutional convention (con-con) mode in rewriting Constitution.

According to The Center, which polled 2,400 adult respondents between May 15 and 29, six out of every 10 Filipinos now favor Charter change and an even higher percentage support amendments to liberalize the economy.

Ed Malay, center director, said the main reason why a majority of those polled now favor a people’s initiative was their increasing frustration over the executive-legislative gridlock that has stalled the passage of necessary economic reforms.

Malay said they also favored the people’s initiative mode because this process presents an opportunity for the people to decide on the form of government that they believe will work for them.

The survey showed too that 60 percent of voters in Metro Manila favor Charter change. Meanwhile, in the Visayas, 64 percent of respondents favor Cha-cha. Malay said that of the total number of 2,400 respondents, 65 percent or 1,536 favor amendments to the Constitution.

The survey also showed that constitutional reforms enjoy strong support across all regions in the country particularly in Mindanao (69 percent) and Luzon (65 percent).

Of those who favor Cha-cha, a clear majority - 61 percent of the respondents in Mindanao want constitutional reforms to be carried out via the people’s initiative, followed by those polled in the Visayas (49 percent) and Luzon (47 percent).

The survey also showed high disapproval ratings of outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. Fifty-one per cent were dissatisfied with Drilon while a higher 57 percent were dissatisfied with De Venecia.

The high disapproval ratings of Drilon and De Venecia, leading figures of the gridlock-prone bicameral system, only buttress the strong sentiment of the people in favor of the shift to a unicameral parliamentary system, the survey said.

It also showed that many Filipinos were dissatisfied with the performance of senators, including those who oppose constitutional reforms like Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (44 percent); Jamby Madrigal (44 percent); Panfilo Lacson (45 percent); Pia Cayetano (46 percent); Francis Pangilinan (48 percent); Jinggoy Estrada (49 percent); Loi Estrada (50 percent) and Sergio Osmeña III (51 percent).

The Center, a Philippine-based research group, released the results of this comprehensive nationwide survey last June 9. It conducted the poll in partnership with Data Advisors Inc. and Proberz Inc.