A case for basic civic education: Only 57% of Filipinos know the Philippine Constitution

Majority of Filipinos ‘know little’ about Constitution

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Changing the 1987 Constitution is one of the most contentious issues in the country today. But when asked how much they really knew about the Charter, Filipinos admit they know very little.

The latest Pulse Asia survey showed that a majority, 57 percent of Filipinos, claim that they only have “a little knowledge” of the Constitution.

A tiny percentage, 3 percent, say they have “a great deal of knowledge” of the Charter. About 25 percent of respondents said they have “not a great deal, but a sufficient amount” of knowledge and 8 percent said they have “almost none of no knowledge at all” of the charter.

More Pinoys undecided on charter change

Inspite of this ignorance, majority of Filipinos have taken a stand on the issue. The same survey show that 42 percent are in favor of Charter change, 33 are against it, and 25 are undecided.

The number of Filipinos who are undecided on whether or not they are in favor of changing the Constitution has increased, the survey also revealed.

Of those surveyed, 25 percent of respondents said they are undecided on whether or not they are in favor of changing the Constitution now, up by 6 percentage points from November 2006.

The total percentage of people not in favor was the same as in November 2006.

Economy leading reasons

Among those who are in favor of constitutional change, improving the economy led the main reasons.

Improving the economy was the main reason for 36.1 percent of the respondents in favor of charter change, followed by eradicating corruption (20.8 percent), and improving the law (11.9 percent).

Other reasons cited by those in favor include changing the system of government (9.1 percent), changing current government officials (9.1 percent), for peace and order (4.3 percent), for good governance (3.6 percent), extending President Arroyo’s term (1.6 percent), and the removal of the Senate (0.5 percent).

On the other hand, among the major reasons of those who are not in favor of charter change are to avoid chaos (16.9 percent), satisfaction in the present charter (16.8 percent), and prevention of lifting of term limits (11.6 percent).

Also cited as reasons for not favoring charter change are that economic conditions won’t change (10.8 percent), preventing an extension of the current President’s term (10.7 percent), still being able to choose leaders (7.5 percent), avoiding widespread corruption (4.4 percent), and that proposed changes are still not clear (3.9 percent).

Con-ass vs con-con, presidential vs parliamentary

When asked to choose the best method of changing the Constitution, more than two thirds of total respondents (69 percent) favored constitutional convention over congressional action or a constituent assembly (31 percent).

Meanwhile, 59 percent of total respondents said they are not in favor of changing the present presidential system into a parliamentary format.

Those in favor of having a parliamentary system of government was 21 percent of total respondents, while 20 percent said they are undecided.

A majority of the total respondents (59 percent) are also not in favor of changing the present unitary system of government to a federal system.

Other amendments

A large majority of the respondents to the Pulse Asia survey were also not in favor of three major proposed amendments to the charter.

Majority of respondents said they are not in favor of lifting of term limits (77 percent), term extension for national and local elective officials except barangay officials (81 percent), and allowing foreigners and foreign companies to own residential and industrial lands (84 percent).

Pulse Asia’s survey was conducted from February 2 to 15, 2009.

Among the top news stories prior and during the survey period were the “Alabang boys” scandal, the World Bank blacklisting controversy, the planned automation of the May 2010 elections, and the revival of charter change.

Also among the top news stories were controversies involving the Supreme Court including the aborted plan to file impeachment charges against Chief Justice Reynato Puno, increased layoffs here and abroad and the government response, and the US presidential elections and the inauguration of Barack Obama.

The survey had a sample size of 1,200 respondents, and a margin of error of ± 3.

SOURCE: ABS-CBN News Online, majority-filipinos-%E2%80%98know-little%E2%80%99-about-constitution