Consultative panel confident Filipinos' perception of Cha-Cha will change

MANILA, Philippines — The Consultative Committee tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution said Filipinos' perception of charter change would shift once the proposed revisions are presented to the public.

This came hours after the release of a Pulse Asia survey, which found that 64 percent of Filipinos are against the proposed move to amend the constitution. Opposition to charter change increased by 20 percentage points from 44 percent in July 2016.

Only 23 percent are supportive of the proposal, while 13 percent are ambivalent on the matter.

“Surveys are a pulse of a given population on a given issue at any time. Thus, they change from time to time,” Con-com said in a statement.

It noted that the survey, conducted from March 23 to 28, was done when the panel headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno was still formulating the proposed revisions.

Con-com also pointed out that the public would not readily approve charter change since most of them have limited knowledge of the constitution.

The Pulse Asia survey showed that 75 percent of Filipinos admitted to knowing little or having almost/completely no knowledge on the 1987 Constitution.

“Ultimately, the true pulse of the people will be felt and shown when the plebiscite is held for the people to decide whether or not they want a new constitution and a new system of government,” Con-com said.

READ: Pulse Asia: 6 out of 10 Filipinos oppose charter change

But while it considered the results of the survey as “a guide and a challenge,” the panel disputed some interpretations of the poll.

Con-com stressed that those who said they are not in favor of altering the constitution sometime in the future but not at the present are actually in favor of charter change only that it should be done in the future.

“Thus, in reality, those in favor of amending the constitution now (23 percent) [and] in favor of doing it in the future (32 percent) constitute a majority of 55 percent,” it said.

The panel likewise questioned the result on the public’s attitude toward the proposed shift of government to federal form from the current unitary system.

Pulse Asia’s survey showed that 66 percent of Filipinos are against the proposed shift to a federal form of government from the present unitary system. Only 27 percent are supportive of the change to a federal system, while 6 percent are ambivalent on the matter.

Con-com said that it is inaccurate to compare the results of the March 2018 survey with the findings of the July 2016 survey because the polling firm asked different questions.

The question in the July 2016 survey was: “Are you in favor or not in favor of changing the present unitary system of government and having a federal system of government for the nation?” and the choices were (a) in favor, (b) undecided, (c) not in favor.

The question in March 2018 survey was modified to whether the respondents were in favor of shifting to federalism (a) now, (b) not now but it may be changed sometime in the future, (c) not now or any other time and (d) don’t know.

“If we apply the same interpretation, then it can actually be said that those in favor (now and at sometime in the future) comprised 57 percent or a majority—higher than the 36 percent in July 2016,” Con-com said.