Only one in four Filipinos is aware of the federalism, which the Duterte administration is pushing, the latest Social Weather Stations survey shows.
The First Quarter 2018 Social Weather Report, showed that only 25 percent of Filipinos know that federalism is being pursued by the administration, while 75 percent only knew about it during the survey.
The report also shows that 37 percent agree with the federal system of government, consisting of 14 percent who strongly agree and 23 percent who somewhat agree. Twenty-nine percent disagree, consisting of 12 percent who somewhat disagree and 17 percent who strongly disagree. The rest or 34 percent were undecided.
Support for the federal type of government was highest in Mindanao with a very strong net agreement score of +43 (59 percent agree, 16 percent disagree), followed by Metro Manila at a neutral +7 (38 percent agree, 31 percent disagree) and the Visayas at a neutral +2 (31 percent agree, 30 percent disagree).
Support for federalism is strong among respondents who trust President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.
Gainers, or those whose personal quality of life is better now compared to 12 months ago, and optimists, or those whose personal quality of life will be better 12 months from now also show strong support for the federal system.
On the other hand, the survey showed that 58 percent of Filipinos don’t know or are not familiar with the name of the “state” being promoted in their own locality. Four percent don’t agree with the change of names while 1 percent said no one in their locality is pushing federalism.
The level of awareness was highest in Mindanao scoring 37 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 28 percent. Showing that awareness is slightly higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.
It was also highest among college students at 53 percent, followed by high school graduates and then elementary non-graduates.
The report was conducted from March 23-27, 2018 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults, aged 18 and above nationwide with a sampling error of +/-3 percent for national percentages.
The Palace said the survey showed the government must do more to make people aware of the advantages of a federal form of government.
“We’ll need to work harder given that the shift to federalism is the cornerstone of the Duterte administration,” said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque.
He added that the Palace is still awaiting the recommendations of a constitutional commission that the President created to suggest changes to the Constitution that would pave the way to a federal form of government. With Vito Barcelo