Just 18 percent of Filipinos are in favor of changing the Constitution and 28 percent agree with proposals to change the system of government, a Pulse Asia survey said.
Nearly seven in 10 said they were hardly aware of the proposed federal system.
The poll was conducted between June 15 and June 21, when the consultative committee was deliberating on its proposal which it submitted to President Duterte on June 9.
The Palace said that the survey has highlighted the need for an information campaign among the people, who may not realize the benefits of the proposed change.
Where people may need enlightenment too is on the need to evaluate issues for what they are, instead of reducing them to an us-or-them question.
For example, it is highly probable that people said they did not approve of changes in the Constitution or in the form of government, not because they did not know enough about it, or because they do not approve of the way lawmakers could have a hand in it, but because they associate it with the Duterte administration.
The convenient but idiotic argument could be that if you like President Duterte, you would agree to his positions and policies without reservation.
Conversely, if you did not agree with an initiative of the Duterte administration, then you must be a member of the Yellow horde.
The binary approach discourages any opportunity for critical thinking or substantive discussion, and consigns Filipinos to a shallow appreciation of the issues that should affect them for much longer than anybody’s term in office.
The habit goes beyond the conversation on charter change. If Filipinos are not able to look beyond political color and talk about inherent benefits and costs of the issues they face, then we would not be able to have a legitimate voice in the national discourse.