Palace: No need to dignify HK survey on Pinoys

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday shrugged off a survey by the University of Hong Kong, which showed that a majority of Hong Kong residents dislike the Philippine government and its people.

“We don’t need to dignify that particular survey. We know what we are supposed to do,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told state-run radio station dzRB.

Lacierda said the survey would not have any impact on Filipinos working in or traveling to Hong Kong.

“In order for their orientation to change, perhaps it would be prudent to see the Philippines and see what the Philippines really is to them,” he said. “Unless you see, come and visit the Philippines, you will not fully appreciate that it’s really more fun in the Philippines.”

The University of Hong Kong survey released this week showed that 87 percent of Hong Kong residents dislike the Philippine government while 41 percent dislike Filipinos.

Only 11 percent of the respondents said they like Filipinos while only 1 percent said they like the Philippine government.

The survey was released a few days before the Philippine Azkals football team defeated Hong Kong in a friendly match that saw Hong Kong fans allegedly harassing Filipinos.

“Hong Kong people seem to dislike the governments of the Philippines, Japan, the United States and Thailand, whereas they seem to like all peoples rather than dislike them, except with the people of the Philippines,” University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Program director Rober Chung said.

The survey said the negative feeling toward the Philippines as well as China and Japan is at a new high since 1997.

“Among them, that toward the Filipino government has also reached 86 percentage points net, which warrants attention,” Chung said.

The governments and people with highest positive net values were Singapore and Canada.

The survey had 1,031 respondents and covered regions and countries known to Hong Kong residents.

“Hong Kong people may well like or dislike other places much more, but because they are not the most well-known places, they do not appear on the list by design,” Chung said.