Pollsters need freedom, says SWS head

SWS president Mahar Mangahas: Freedom

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Social Weather Stations (SWS) president Mahar Mangahas said that beyond the need for resources and technical expertise, researchers doing opinion polls and social surveys need freedom most of all in order to thrive.

Calling opinion polls “history from below,”Mangahas said this kind of research brings out the democratic feeling of people, but it will only thrive in areas where political leaders, in some way or another, are “not afraid to listen to what the people have to say.”

“The technology of doing surveys is not very difficult,”said Mangahas, who was here on Friday for the launch of the City-Wide Survey Series, an opinion poll and social survey initiated by the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) research council. “But what’s difficult is having the sociopolitical atmosphere that allows it to happen.”

Mangahas said the support of the city government, in terms of giving researchers a very friendly atmosphere, was “extremely important in this work anywhere in the world.”

“Freedom is the most important thing that one needs to do this research, that’s why we started in 1986, because we had freedom after democracy was restored, and we had it first in the Philippines of all the countries in Southeast Asia,” he said, referring to the SWS, the country’s leading opinion poll firm known for its high level of accuracy and independence.

He said there should be more localized opinion polls not only in Davao City but in different areas in Mindanao to find out what people think about the different aspects of their lives.

Mangahas referred to opinion polls as “history from below,”adding that opinion polls could bring about democratic feelings, by gauging the sentiments and social conditions of the people.