By Corina Oliquino | FilAm Star Correspondent
Manila, Philippines –In the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) Pre-Election survey of February 5-7, 80 percent of Filipino voters said that they “would probably vote” for a candidate that will advocate the 4Ps or the continuation of the Pantawid Pamilya Program with a 4 to 5 ratio.
In its poll, SWS said that the February 2016 result gained a similar turnout from the September 2015 and January 2016 survey results.
Under the latest survey, SWS said that aside from the 80 percent of Filipino voters preferring a candidate that will advocate 4Ps, some 9 percent of the respondents said that they “would probably not” and 12 percent of them said that they “will not be affected” if a candidate will advocate for the continuation of the 4Ps program.
SWS also revealed that this Pre-election survey also asked about the Reproductive Health (RH) Law, Freedom of Information (FOI) Law and the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), among others. The survey recorded the following results:
• 66 percent of the respondents “would probably vote” for the candidate who will advocate the full implementation of the Reproductive Health Law (RH) Law.
– The RH Law according to SWS was the second most supported advocacy in this recent survey however, some 19 percent of the respondents asked said that they “would probably not vote” and the other 16 percent “will not be affected.”
• 62 percent of the respondents surveyed said that they “would probably vote” for a candidate that will support the enactment of the Freedom of Information Law or FOI.
– While 17 percent of the respondents asked said that they “would probably not” and 21 percent “will not be affected” if a candidate will advocate for the enactment of the FOI bill. SWS also disclosed that the support for candidates who will back the FOI bill rose from 48 percent compared to the results of the same survey in September 2015 and January 2016, respectively.
• Some 60 percent are in favor of the continuation of the Aquino administration’s “Daang Matuwid”
– Some 18 percent of the respondents said that they “would probably not” vote for a candidate who will support the principle, Daang Matuwid (Straight Path) and 26 percent said that they “will not be affected.” SWS noted a 65 percent rise in support of the candidate that will advocate the Daang Matuwid principle compared to the results of the same surveys held in September 2015 and January 2016.
• 59 percent are in favor of the re-imposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes.
– 29 percent of the respondents asked regarding the issue said that they “would probably no” vote for a candidate who will back the re-imposition of the death penalty while some 12 percent said that “they will not be affected.” According to SWS, support for candidates who will advocate this issue rose from 49 percent compared to the January 2016 survey result.
• 47 percent are for defending the rights of the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender or LGBT.
– 31 percent of the respondents asked regarding this issue said that they “would probably not” and 21 percent “will not be affected” if a candidate will advocate for the LGBT community.
• The same 47 percent of the respondents are also in favor for the enactment of the anti-political dynasty law.
– Some 30 percent of the respondents asked said that they “would probably not” and 23 percent will not be affected if a candidate will support the enactment of the anti-political dynasty law. SWS said that there’s a 46 percent rise in support for candidates who will advocate this issue compared to the result gained in the same surveys held in September 2015 and January 2016, respectively.
• 34 percent are for the enactment of the divorce law.
– 45 percent of the respondents asked said that they “would probably not” and 21 percent “will not be affected” if a candidate will back the divorce law. SWS said that the result for this particular issue varies in result to the September 2015 survey of the same type with a 26 percent rise in turnout and a 27 percent rise in advocacy support compared to the January 2016 result, respectively.
• 31 percent are for the enactment of the Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL.
– Some 38 percent of the respondents asked about the enactment of the BBL said that they “would probably not” and 31 percent “will not be affected” if a candidate will back the passage of the BBL. SWS said that support for candidates who will support the passage of BBL rose from 31 percent compared to the September 2015 survey of the same kind.
• Some 19 percent of the respondents are for the enactment of law allowing foreign ownership of lands.
– A majority of 63 percent of the respondents asked said that they “would probably not” vote for a candidate supporting the enactment of the law allowing foreign investors to buy lands in the Philippines while 18 percent of the respondents said that they “will not be affected.”
This recent SWS survey was conducted from February 5-7, 2016 using face-to-face interviews among 1,200 respondents with 300 each in Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao with a plus and minus 3 percent margin of error.
“The area estimates were weighted by the 2016 Commission on Elections data on registered voters to obtain the national estimates,” SWS said.
SWS reiterated that, “The February 2016 Pre-Election Survey is not commissioned, and is done on SWS’ own initiative.”
