SWS: 5 of 10 Pinoys expect people power if polls fail

MANILA, Philippines – Nearly five out of 10 Filipino adults believe there will be another show of people power if there is a failure of elections in May, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed.

The non-commissioned survey, conducted from Oct. 24 to 27, showed that 49 percent agree while 22 percent disagree with the statement: “If the 2010 elections fail for any reason, e.g., malfunctioning of counting machines, then people power will probably happen already,” for a net agreement score of +27.

The remaining 26 percent of respondents neither agree nor disagree, the SWS said.

A majority (58 percent) of respondents in balance Luzon and over half (54 percent) in Metro Manila sense that people power or massive street protests will happen in case of election failure.

Forty percent of those in Mindanao share this anxiety, the pollster added.

The survey found mixed opinions among the respondents in the Visayas – 38 percent agree, 33 percent neither agree nor disagree, and 25 percent disagree.

The survey also revealed that 47 percent of Filipinos fear the counting machines are vulnerable to sabotage.

The October 2009 survey found that 47 percent agree and 28 percent disagree with the test statement, “The machines that will be used to count the votes in the 2010 election can easily be sabotaged in order to fake the election results.”

Twenty-three percent neither agree nor disagree, it said.

Over half in Metro Manila (56 percent) and balance Luzon (55 percent) fear the vulnerability of the counting machines to sabotage.

Opinions are mixed in the Visayas, with 37 percent expressing fear of sabotage, 33 percent undecided, and 27 percent expressing confidence in the counting machines.

On the other hand, 41 percent in Mindanao expressed confidence that the counting machines cannot be easily sabotaged, compared to 33 percent who express fear of sabotage.

The new survey likewise showed that 44 percent of Filipinos trust the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure the counting machines will not be sabotaged.

To the statement, “Comelec can be trusted to make sure that there is no sabotage of the machines to be used to count the votes in the 2010 election,” 44 percent agree and 28 percent disagree. The remaining 26 percent neither agree nor disagree.

In balance Luzon (47 percent), Metro Manila (45 percent), and Mindanao (45 percent) a little less than half of respondents trust that the Comelec can guard against sabotage in the 2010 elections.

SWS said opinions tend to be mixed in the Visayas, with 37 percent expressing trust, 35 percent undecided, and 25 percent expressing distrust in the poll body.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages. –Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)