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Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star
April 29, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Three in every four Filipino voters will support candidates they believe will assert Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea, a recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The April 11 to 14 poll, commissioned by Stratbase group, found that 75 percent of the respondents will vote for candidates who believe that “the Philippines must assert our rights against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea.”
Only 25 percent said they would support those who do not believe that the country should assert its rights in the region.
Stratbase noted that across socioeconomic classes, support for candidates asserting the country’s sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea is lower among those in Class E.
Only 59 percent said they will support candidates who will assert Philippine sovereignty in the region, while 41 percent said they will support non-assertive candidates.
Stratbase president Dindo Manhit said this could be an effect of what he described as China’s systematic disinformation campaign in the Philippines.
“Tragically, social class E’s daily fight for survival leaves them more susceptible to these manipulations, especially when false narratives are amplified by local candidates who have historically aligned themselves with Chinese interests,” he said.
“Let us be clear: the hardworking men and women of social class E are not to blame. They are victims of a deliberate, aggressive disinformation campaign waged by China, which aims to dull national outrage, normalize foreign aggression and create confusion about the necessity of defending Philippine sovereignty,” he added.
The SWS April survey had 1,800 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus two percent.
Meanwhile, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas is appealing to voters to shun candidates supporting China in the West Philippine Sea issue.
“Do not vote for those who support the Chinese presence in the West Philippine Sea or those who quietly evade the issue by their silence and empty rhetoric,” said Villegas.
He believed that Chinese intrusion into Philippine waters is one of the country’s most serious problems needing immediate attention.
“The sovereignty of our national territory, particularly the Chinese intrusion into our seas, is an ever present threat aggravated by Filipino accomplices who defend this invasion,” he added.
“As shepherds, our duty is to form our flock’s moral conscience in view of making moral choices in the election. Use the moral standards we have taught you and make your judgment in prayer,” he said.
“We should vote for those in action – discerned from their life-stories and from their public conduct – live honestly, not opulently, love sincerely, neither for show nor for applause and take up the causes of the weakest members of our society,” he added. — Evelyn Macairan
