75% of Filipinos satisfied with democracy, says SWS

Former President Fidel V. Ramos joins the members of the military during the reenactment of the Salubungan to mark the 30th anniversary celebration of the Edsa 1. JOAN S. BONDOC

THIRTY years after the Edsa People Power Revolution that toppled a dictatorship, three in every four Filipinos were satisfied with the way democracy works, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Asked face-to-face, 76 percent of 1,200 adult respondents nationwide expressed satisfaction with the country’s democracy.

SWS noted that satisfaction with democracy reached at least 64 percent based on the seven opinion polls conducted before Dec. 5-8, 2015, under the Aquino administration.

Results of the 59 surveys conducted since 1991 ranged from 28 percent in November 2003 to 80 percent in June 2013, a month after the midyear elections that used automated balloting for the second time.

The noncommissioned nationwide survey, the results of which were first published in BusinessWorld, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

SWS also found that 58 percent had “always preferred a democratic kind of government,” while 18 percent “sometimes preferred an authoritarian kind” and 23 percent claimed “it did not matter.”

Preference for a democratic government was over 51 percent since 2002, except in September 2006 and June 2008 that registered record-low 49 percent. The highest score of 65 percent was recorded in June 2013. Inquirer Research