A recent public pulse survey has indicated that most Filipinos disapprove of certain government moves, notably the proposed return of the controversial Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) even under a different name.
The PAHAYAG 2024 third quarter (PQ3-2024) poll, conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. last Sept. 15-19, showed that Filipinos rejected suggestions to bring back the POGO renamed as Integrated Gaming Licenses which received only 25 percent approval, as well as the proposal to extend the terms of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials from three to six years with 26 percent.
Other unpopular issues included the reduction of holidays to boost economic activity which got 33 percent and the ongoing tension with China over the West Philippine Sea with 34 percent.
In contrast, the most approved topics included the Rice-for-All program that offered the cereal at P29 a kilo (82 percent), seen as a step forward in President Marcos’ campaign promise of rice at P20/kilo.
The capture and repatriation of ousted Bamban Mayor Alice Guo received a resounding approval with 82 percent, while other key issues that mustered strong public approval were the abolition of the POGOs (79 percent), drug testing of top officials (78 percent), Quiboloy’s voluntary surrender (78 percent), and updates on flood-related projects mentioned in Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July (78 percent).
Other matters with strong public support included establishing more “justice zones” in Mindanao (74 percent) and the Supreme Court’s use of social media to improve public access, efficiency, and understanding (72 percent). About seven in 10 Filipinos also support the passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill (70 percent) and the consolidation of various ayuda programs into a National Family Stipend Program (67 percent).
Additionally, six in 10 Filipino voters approved of the Quad-Committee investigations into former President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged links to POGOs (62 percent), seizure of the P6.4-billion shabu shipment in Davao in 2018 (61 percent), and the systematic killings of detained Chinese nationals for
Meanwhile, nearly half of the population approved the passage of the Absolute Divorce Bill (48 percent) and Marcos’ veto of the Philippine National Police Modernization Bill (46 percent). However, only fourin 10 Filipinos were in favor of banning apps like TikTok due to concerns over potential national security threats from foreign adversaries (40 percent).
The recent PAHAYAG survey was an independent and non-commissioned research using purposive sampling covering 1,500 respondents randomly drawn from the market research panel of over 200,000 registered Filipino voters maintained by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with multinational presence.
