SWS denies Trillanes’ claim

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Weather Stations (SWS) yesterday denied re-electionist Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ accusation of “massaging” the results of its surveys.

In a statement, the pollster challenged the Team PNoy candidate to reveal the identities of the persons who he claimed attempted to get payment from him in exchange for the locations of SWS sample spots in 2007.

“SWS never engages in any practice damaging to its integrity,” the survey research institute stressed.

“Every SWS survey uses a fresh random sample of barangays or precincts. The locations of its sample spots and the timing of the survey are kept secret prior to fieldwork, precisely to prevent political operators from conducting ‘special campaign operations’ there,” it said.

“Sen. Trillanes’ accusations are an assault on SWS’s integrity... SWS reserves the right to use legal means to protect its reputation against such smears,” it added.

In a recent media interview, the lawmaker claimed that the SWS committed a “glaring error” in its final pre-election survey in 2007, which had him at 15th place, yet he won a Senate seat in that election.