6 out of 10 Pinoys unaware of party-list system

MANILA, Philippines - With only a few weeks left before the elections, six out of 10 Filipinos are still unaware of the party-list system, a latest survey by Pulse Asia revealed yesterday.

Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan survey, conducted from March 21 to 28, showed that despite the fact that the election for party-list representatives has been taking place since 1998, almost six in 10 registered voters or 58 percent still have not heard or read anything about the party-list system.

Majorities in all geographic areas (51 percent to 61 percent) and practically every socio-economic class (58 percent to 60 percent) are not aware of the party-list system, Pulse Asia said.

It is only in the best-off Class ABC that a majority awareness level is recorded at 55 percent, it added.

Nonetheless, there is a slight increase in the level of awareness between February and March 2010 (+4 percentage points) and a significant increase between January and March 2010 (+11 percentage points).

However, Pulse Asia said the current overall level of awareness is still significantly lower than the April 2007 figure (59 percent), the highest level of awareness recorded by Pulse Asia.

The survey also found that only 10 of the 187 party-list groups running in the May 10 elections have a “statistical chance” of winning congressional seats if the elections were held last month.

It showed Gabriela and Bayan Muna leading the party-list race with 7.81 percent and 7.25 percent, respectively.

“Among these probable winners, only two party-list groups would gain the maximum of three congressional seats – Gabriela and Bayan Muna,” Pulse Asia said.

The other probable winners are Akbayan (4.12 percent); Anakpawis (3.91 percent); A Teacher (2.85 percent); Senior Citizens (2.73 percent); An Waray (2.47 percent); Buhay (2.39 percent); AKB (2.38 percent); and Butil (2.03 percent).

However, Pulse Asia said that based on the formula for the allocation of party-list seats discussed in the Supreme Court’s ruling on April 21, 2009, 36 other groups would win a seat in the House of Representatives.

These are Kabataan, Abono, Akap Bata, Apec, Kalinga, Amin, Coop-Natcco, 1 Ang Pamilya, Anad, Abamin, Anak, Agri, Yacap 1-Utak, Binhi, Ahon, Women Power, Cibac, Unlad Pilipinas, Bukid, Akap, Kaagapay, 1-Abaa, Act Teachers, Agap, Alyansa ng OFW, Alay Buhay, 1-Care, Kabayan, Ahapo, 1-Aani, Opo, Agham, LPGMA, Emmanuel and Abroad.  

The Party-List System Act states that the groups garnering more than two percent of the votes would be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes. A party-list can have a maximum of three seats. The party-list representatives would constitute 20 percent of the total number of the members of the House including those under the party-list.

The non-commissioned survey used face-to-face interviews of 3,000 representative adults, higher than the usual 1,800 respondents used in Pulse Asia’s previous pre-election surveys.

The survey has sampling error margin of plus or minus two percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.