Timing ng SWS survey vs China kinuwestyon ng Palasyo

KINUWESTYON ng Palasyo ang timing ng pagpapalabas ng Social Weather Stations (SWS) ng resulta ng survey nito kung saan 84 porsiyento ng mga Pinoy ang tutol sa umano’y kawalan ng aksyon ng gobyerno laban sa ginagawang pagsakop ng China sa West Philippine Sea.

Sa isang pahayag, sinabi ni Presidential Spokesperson at Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo na isinapubliko ang survey sa mismong araw ng state visit ni Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We find the timing of the release of the results of the survey conducted by SWS last September 15-23 suspect considering that such was made public on the day of Chinese President Xi Jingping’s first state visit to the Philippines. This adds credence to the commonly-held belief that polling firms could be wittingly or unwittingly used for partisan purposes,” giit ni Panelo.

Kasabay nito, nagpahayag din si Panelo ng pagkabahala sa klase ng tanong sa isinagawang survey.

“Be that as it may, we would like to express our concerns on what we consider a flawed questionnaire design regarding China and the West Philippine Sea, particularly how some questions were phrased to arrive at the results of the the survey. One example is the question: Ang pabayaan na lang ang Tsina na panatilihin ang mga imprastraktura at militar sa mga inaangking mga teritoryo ay TAMA / HINDA TAMA na pamaraan na gawin ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas upang malutas ang pagtatalo ng Pilipinas at Tsina tungkol sa West Philippine Sea,” ayon pa kay Panelo

Idinagdag ni Panelo na pinapalabas ng tanong na walang ginawang aksyon ang administrasyon sa mga aktibidad ng China sa West Philippine Sea.

“We consider the question skewed as it misleads the public to believe and suggests that the current government has not acted on China’s activities on the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea. This is far from the truth. The Duterte administration has been consistent in its stance in protecting our territorial claims and maritime entitlements,” ayon pa kay Panelo.

Umalma rin si Panelo sa resulta ng survey na walang tiwala ang mga Pinoy sa China kumpara sa United States at Japan.

“We have to underscore the fact that the United States and Japan are our traditional allies hence it is expected that there is higher level of trust in these two countries. Our country’s renewed ties with our giant neighbor in the North provides us a welcome opportunity for the public to know and understand China better. It does not happen overnight but we are confident that a more favorable public appreciation of China would happen in the future,” dagdag ni Panelo.