Poll: Pinoys hopeful about ’02 but worry about terrorism

Most Filipinos are hopeful for the coming year 2002 but continue to be worried about a major terrorist attack in the country, recent surveys said.

According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey for the fourth quarter of 2001, 69 percent of Filipinos were very worried while 20 percent were somewhat worried about a terrorist attack on the Philippines.

However, in a separate survey also conducted by the SWS Nov. 3-21, most Filipinos say they are thankful for their state of health, their economic well being and their having survived in life as the year draws to a close.

In response to an open-ended question on things they are most thankful for, those surveyed mentioned good health (47 percent), satisfactory economic well being (34 percent), surviving in life (33 percent), good family relations (14 percent) and peace (11 percent).

The results hardly changed since December 2000, when the question was first asked.

And for the second successive year, SWS asked respondents whether they feel they are entering the new year with hope or fear. The new survey had 88 percent saying they enter the new year with hope, with only 12 percent saying they do so with fear, a result no different from December 2000.

Considering life in general, 50 percent of Filipinos feel fairly happy, while 68 percent say they are proud to be Filipino, down significantly from 87 percent who said they were proud of their race recorded in July 2001.

Also, most Filipinos disagreed with the statement, "There is no hope for this country; if possible, I would migrate." Disagreement was 64 percent.

Meanwhile, Filipinos are much more concerned about terror attacks than either Americans (36 percent very worried, 46 percent somewhat worried in a Gallup poll, Oct. 9) or the British (39 percent very worried, 44 percent somewhat worried, MORI).

The SWS survey also found 61 percent very worried and 18 percent somewhat worried about exposure to anthrax. This is also significantly higher than the 7 percent very and 26 percent somewhat worried about anthrax in the US (Gallup, Nov. 26-27).

A 55 percent majority of Filipinos approve of the US’ military and other actions against terrorism, compared to only 18 percent who disapprove; one-fourth (27 percent) didn’t know enough to have an opinion.

This may be compared to great support among Americans (86 percent as of Nov. 2-4, Gallup), and weak support among Russians (42 percent as of Oct. 6, Gallup).

A 46 percent plurality of Filipinos agree with President Arroyo’s declaration of support for the US, but a significant 30 percent disagree, and 24 percent are undecided. Agreement is stronger the higher the economic class.

Among those who agree with Mrs. Arroyo’s support to the US war, two-thirds (64 percent) are willing to let US forces pass through Philippine territory.

However, opinions are divided — 49 percent in favor vs. 51 percent opposed — on the idea of sending Filipino soldiers to help in the war, and only one-third (35 percent) agree to sending Filipino civilians to assist in some way.

Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of Filipinos believe that the al-Qaeda group of Saudi militant Osama bin Laden is responsible for the attacks in New York City and Washington. Only 15 percent reject the accusation, while the rest say they don’t know enough.

The SWS survey conducted Nov. 3-21 also indicated widespread distrust for Bin Laden and the war-torn country of Afghanistan.

The survey obtained net trust ratings of -50 for Afghanistan and -71 for Bin Laden, compared to -36 for Iraq in November 1990 (Philippines, SWS) and -86 for Saddam Hussein in March 1991 (Metro Manila, SWS).

It was in August 1990 that Iraq occupied Kuwait, and in February 1991 that Operation Desert Storm was launched in Kuwait and Iraq.

US President George W. Bush, on the other hand, is well trusted by Filipinos. His favorable net trust rating of 58 percent is more than the 50 percent of his father and namesake, former US President George Bush in March 1991 (Metro Manila, SWS).

Almost three-fourths of Filipinos (71 percent) say that the US/British attacks on Afghanistan are acts of self-defense, and not acts of terrorism in themselves.

At the same time, only a minority of Filipinos (38 percent) think that the US did enough to look for a peaceful solution before attacking Afghanistan. This contrasts with the 82 percent of Americans who think the US did enough to look for a diplomatic solution (Oct. 7, Washington Post).

In the Philippines, news of the Sept. 11 attacks on the US spread very fast. Almost one-third of Filipino adults learned of it on the night of the 11th (morning in the US); by the next day, three-fourths already knew what had happened.

The SWS fourth quarter survey had 1,200 statistically representative adult respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points at 95 percent confidence level.