MANILA, Philippines — Majority of Muslims nationwide are in favor of the approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey.
The poll released Monday night found that 79 percent of Muslims in the Philippines are in favor of the BOL, with 67 percent saying they definitely want it while 12 percent said they somewhat want it.
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Among the Muslim respondents, 14 percent were undecided, 4 percent said they don't want the proposal while 3 percent said they definitely don't want it. This garners a net approval score of +72 among Filipino Muslims.
In other religions, the net approval of the BOL was +15 among Iglesia ni Cristos, +10 among Catholics and +9 among other Christians.
The survey also found that 78 percent of Muslims know about the BOL, with 10 percent having extensive knowledge, 35 percent have partial but sufficient knowledge and 33 percent have only a little knowledge.
Among other religions, 65 percent of Catholics, 61 percent of Iglesia ni Cristos and 61 percent of other Christians said they have a little knowledge about the proposal.
Those who have partial but sufficient knowledge about the BOL were highest among Muslims with 45 percent.
Majority of Muslims also believe that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is capable of governing the proposed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). About 76 percent of Muslims said the MILF is capable of governing the BARMM, consisting of 56 percent saying they are definitely capable and 21 percent said somewhat capable.
Mindanao as a whole
In Mindanao alone, 27 percent of adults said they definitely want the BOL, 14 percent somewhat want it, 9 percent somewhat don't want it and 22 percent definitely don't want it.
A plurality of 28 percent remain undecided on the BOL, the balance of opinion leaning towards approval with a +9 net approval.
In Visayas, net approval was at +17 while it was +16 and + 13 in balance Luzon and Metro Manila, respectively.
Among adults in Mindanao, 63 percent have knowledge about the BOL while the remaining 22 percent said they have almost none or no knowledge about it.
The poll also showed that net approval was higher among those who have sufficient about the BOL with a rating of +43 compared to those with only a little knowledge at +17 and -9 among those with almost no knowledge about the proposal.
The survey was released after the plebiscite Mindanao but it was conducted from December 16 to 19, 2018 with separate samples from Metro Manila, balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The poll was conducted among 1,440 adults using face-to-face interviews with sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for regional percentages.
For centuries, the Bangsamoro people have been fighting for their right to self-determination. The right to self-determination means the collective right of people to determine its own future, including the right to determine their political status and to freely pursue its economic, social, spiritual and cultural development.