Congressional probe on survey firms sought

MANILA, Philippines - A partylist legislator has called on his colleagues to review the scope and extent of polls done by survey firms, such as the Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia.

In his House Resolution 800, ABAKADA partylist Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz sought the inquiry of the survey firms by the committee on public information chaired by Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte.

"In the pursuit of these objectives, no particular scope and extent, and standard of functions have been established for the purpose of determining the metes and bounds of surveys conducted by these firms," Dela Cruz said.

Citing the 2013 fourth quarter SWS survey, he said that questions were raised about its results, which stated the satisfaction rating of President Benigno Aquino III has remained essentially unchanged since the previous survey.

Malacañang said the survey disproved claims by administration critics that the President was becoming unpopular to the people especially in areas ravaged by calamities.

"The said survey results were soundly criticized by some quarters specially by affected citizens in these calamity areas," Dela Cruz said.

He said the survey firms regularly conduct scientific social surveys for the sake of "education, conscientization and analysis," and their stated vision is to set standards of excellence in the practice of "Statistics for Advocacy" within a democratic context.

"They use a socially-oriented agenda, making practical technical innovations, communicating findings to the general public, and teaching the technology to other institutions," he added.

He said the publicly-advised basic functions of these surveys, include among others, social analysis and research, with stress on social indicators and the development of new data sources; design and implementation of social, economic and political surveys, including public opinion polls; and the dissemination of research findings through publications, seminars, briefings and other channels.

According to the survey firms, they also do their own fieldwork and data processing, making them full-service survey research institutes and claim to operate as self-supporting, non-subsidized, academic institute for survey research on topics of public interest, Dela Cruz said.

He added that the survey firms claim they derive financial sustainability from subscriptions, commissioned surveys, social survey contracts, trainings and consultancies.