Filipinos Say "No" to Term Extensions: SWS

According to the latest survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) released last November 25, (below) majority of Filipinos do not want President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be in Malacañang after 2010. The survey also revealed that most Filipinos oppose extension of the terms of the President, Vice-President, Senators, and Representatives, which according to SWS, had been the constant stand among many Filipinos in the last several years.

This survey was conducted at the time when rumors about a new proposal for Charter Change (also known as "Cha-Cha") surfaced. The timely release of the survey result came when some congressmen have confirmed that there had been a signature campaign in the Lower House to push the controversial Charter Change. This was after Press Secretary Jesus Dureza's prayer (video below), which, according to some gave hints to the ongoing campaign of Malacañang in the Congress to pass the Constitutional amendments.

It was also confirmed through some congressmen, that together with the proposed Charter Change, is a proposal to postpone the May 2010 national elections until the following year. Some anti-Cha-Cha advocates warned that this one year term extension may be prolonged once the Constitution is amended during that period.


Below is the SWS latest survey released November 25, 2008

The SWS September 30-October 4, 2008 used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages). The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2008 to obtain the national estimates. The survey items measuring public opinion on constitutional amendments of term limits are not commissioned, but are done on SWS's own initiative and released as a public service, with first printing rights assigned to BusinessWorld.

Below is the video of the controversial prayer of Press Secretary Jesus Dureza