Survey says: opinions on Bangsamoro Basic Law more favorable among those who know it

From the Business World (Jun 5): Survey says: opinions on Bangsamoro Basic Law more favorable among those who know it

PEOPLE WHO know more about the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) view it more favorably, a recent poll by the Social Weather Station (SWS) showed.

According to the SWS survey conducted from March 20 to 23 among 1,200 adults nationwide, while only 23% of those surveyed approved of the BBL and 48% disapproved of it -- for a net approval of -24 (28% were undecided) -- there was a wide disparity of views between those who said they had “extensive knowledge” of the BBL and those who did not.

The national average of -24 reflected a favorable +28 (64% approve, 36% disapprove) among those with “extensive knowledge” of the BBL, a neutral -2 (41% approve, 43% disapprove) among those with “partial but sufficient knowledge,” an unfavorable -27 (24% approve, 51% disapprove) among those with “only a little knowledge,” and a worse -35% (11% approve, 46% disapprove) among those with “no or almost no knowledge” about the BBL.

The same survey found that 4% of respondents have “extensive” knowledge of the BBL, 13% have “partial but sufficient” knowledge, 47% have “only a little,” and 36% had “almost none.”

The SWS survey also found that Filipino Muslims were the most knowledgeable about the BBL, with 58% of them saying that they have sufficient knowledge on the matter. This is substantially higher than the 27% of Filipinos under the Iglesia ni Cristo, 19% from other Christian groups and 13% of Catholics who rated themselves as sufficiently knowledgeable on the subject.

Meanwhile, more than a third of Filipinos believe that the BBL will not be passed in Congress under the Aquino administration, the term of which will end in 2016, the SWS poll showed.

According to the survey, hope that the BBL will be passed under the Aquino administration got a -34 net score with 39% of Filipinos “not hopeful at all” that the BBL will be passed under Mr. Aquino’s term.

On the other hand, 27% are “somewhat not hopeful,” 24% are “somewhat hopeful,” while 8% are “very hopeful.”

“It can be expected given the high emotions from the Mamasapano incident. We hope that moving forward, sentiment will change after a scrutiny of the actual provisions of the draft law,” said Deputy Presidential Speaker Abigail F. Valte in a text message sent to reporters when asked about the results.

The survey was conducted a couple of months after the Jan. 25 police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The mishandled police operation, which though successful in eliminating the primary target -- high profile terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan -- came at the cost the lives of 67 people including 44 police commandos.

The SWS rates ratings as: +70 and above, “excellent”; +50 to +69, “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”, +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; -70 and below, “execrable.”

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=survey-says-opinions-on-bangsamoro-basic-law-more-favorable-among-those-who-know-it&id=109217