More than half of Filipinos aware of Hong Kong protests – SWS

This chart shows the December 2019 results of a survey on Filipinos’ awareness of Hong Kong protests.

MANILA, Philippines — More than half of Filipinos are aware of the protests in Hong Kong, according to the results of a Social Weather Stations  (SWS) survey that were released on Tuesday.

The poll, conducted from Dec. 13 to Dec. 16, 2019, showed that 52% Filipinos said they had read about the protests while 48% said they just heard about the protests during an interview with the SWS.

SWS said Filipinos who were aware of the protests were “split” on supporting the Hong Kong demonstrators — with 33% saying they supported and 35% saying they did not support the protests.

For the Hong Kong protest survey, SWS used interviews of 1,200 Filipinos aged 18 years old and above, of which 300 were from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The pollster also used sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The SWS used this survey question: “May narinig o nabasa na po ba kayo, kahit na kailan, tungkol sa mga kasalukuyang protesta sa kalye ng mga mamamayan ng Hong Kong? (May narinig o nabasa na, Ngayon lang narinig ang tungkol dito).”

[Have you ever heard or read about the current street protests of Hong Kong citizens? (Have heard about it, Heard about it just now)].

The massive protests in Hong Kong, which began in June, were calling for the withdrawal of an extradition bill that would allow residents of Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trials.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam withdrew the bill in September 2019, but activists called the move as insufficient as some of their demands were not accepted by the government.

The demands included an independent probe into alleged police brutality, release of those detained, and democracy.

/atm